After plea, Madoff investigation grinds on
NEW YORK -- The day after Bernard Madoff was placed behind bars, investigators returned Friday to the arduous task of piecing together one of the largest frauds in history — and trying to determine if anyone else was involved.
The FBI has declined to discuss the status of an investigation expected to drag on for months. But experts say it's certain Madoff's closest relatives and associates are high on the list of people authorities suspect may have known about a scheme that was making them hundreds of millions of dollars.
"I think it's fair to say that his family is a subject of the investigation," said George Jackson, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in Chicago.
Madoff faces a maximum sentence of 150 years in prison after pleading guilty Thursday to 11 charges including fraud, perjury and money laundering, telling a judge he was "deeply sorry and ashamed." The judge immediately jailed him — a decision his lawyers asked an appeals court to reverse on Friday.
Jackson predicted more indictments, potentially alleging a conspiracy by Madoff insiders. But he and others stressed the investigation still is in its early stages, and that Madoff's guilty plea had no bearing on its course.
Any potential suspects "are not better or worse off than they were before the plea," said Christopher Clark, another former federal prosecutor in Manhattan. "The investigation is going to keep going along at its own pace."
Given the enormity of the paper trail, Clark predicted it would be six months to a year before more charges are brought. Those studying Madoff's financial records have also said it is too early to know exactly where the money went over decades.
Court documents filed Friday show Madoff and his wife had a combined net worth of more than $823 million at the end of last year, including a $7 million yacht and four properties worth a total of $22 million. Last month, a court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff's firm reported that about $1 billion in assets had been recovered from the business.
