Having charged former Bernie Madoff & Co. employees, Annette Bongiorno and Joann Crupi, with providing the needed (back office) support for Bernie to pull off his huge Ponzi scheme, will the Justice Department and the SEC now be able to bring charges against those who helped funnel money into the firm?   Peter Henning asked that question in his 11/19 "White Collar Watch" column for NYT Dealbook.  [C-I:  How omniscient was that, given today's UBS story?]

Mr. Henning continues ...

Prosecutors added Ms. Bongiorno and Ms. Crupi to an earlier indictment filed against an office supervisor, Daniel Bonventre, and two computer specialists, Jerome O’Hara and George Perez, who helped maintain the data system that allowed Mr. Madoff to spit out the fictitious account statements sent to clients every month. The superseding indictment means that all those who kept Mr. Madoff’s operation running smoothly have now been charged.

As I discussed in an earlier post, prosecutors have focused on the enablers who kept the trains running on time, if you will. The idea that [Bernie Madoff] acted alone, which he proclaimed at his sentencing, seemed preposterous given the incredible volume of records needed to be generated each month, and the latest accusations make clear that he had help.

But the latest indictments are unsatisfying because they make no mention of the feeder funds that made the Madoff operation such a success or the Madoff family members, who were part of the firm’s brokerage operation. The feeder funds funneled billions of dollars to Bernie Madoff from their own investors and the managers at the firm.

For more than a year prosecutors have had the cooperation of Frank DiPascali Jr., who was Mr. Madoff’s right-hand man. It has taken all that time to indict five individuals who worked in the office, and it is not clear whether prosecutors have made any progress in other parts of the investigation.   

To continue reading, click onto:   [NYT Dealbook, 11/19:  'Waiting..."]