[ by Melanie Gretchen ] Peter Madoff, Bernie's younger brother, and the CCO of the Bernie &Co. broker-dealer, is expected to plead guilty to criminal charges – finally, 3-1/2 years after brother Bernie confessed to the Ponzi crime. Peter's unexpected actions prompts several relevant questions related to this sordid crime.

• How will Peter be punished?
• Why did it take 3-1/2 years for him to confess?
• How might Peter's plea impact Shana (his daughter , a legal counsel in the B/D), Andrew ( Bernie's son, a trader in the B/D) and Ruth (Bernie's wife)?
• Will Peter be expected to provide new and substantive information about the Ponzi operations?

A Watershed Moment? Peter is the first relative of Bernie to admit to wrongdoing in connection with the fraud.  As such, he has agreed to 10 years in prison (significantly less than the 150 years Bernie currently is serving) and forfeiture of $143 billion, based on the amount of money that passed through the firm.

[C-I Note: In the (very) likely event that he cannot pay, one would expect prosecutors to seize all his assets.]

Peter as CCO, General Counsel, and More. Though Peter, now 66, assumed different roles at the firm, including chief compliance officer and general counsel, his plea does not mean that he knew about or participated in his brother's Ponzi scheme.  If he takes the position that he knew little of what went on, then authorities might chalk it up to his being a lousy CCO and his failure to effectively fulfill his oversight responsibilities.  Going forward, prosecutors expect Peter to plead guilty to charges including falsifying documents, lying to regulators and filing false tax returns. 'Piggy Bank' Family. Since Bernie pled guilty in late 2008, Peter and other Madoff family members have been sued by Madoff victims.  In October 2009 Irving Picard, the Madoff bankruptcy trustee, filed a lawsuit against Peter and other family members on behalf of the victims of the fraud to recover some $90 million in illicit proceeds that he contends Peter Madoff and his family paid themselves. In his lawsuit, Mr. Picard accuses ... Peter, daughter Shana, and Bernie's sons Andrew and Mark (latter is deceased) of treating the firm as a "family piggy bank," spending about $255 million of victims' money.  While the trustee does not contend that Peter acted as an accomplice, it does say that Peter was "completely derelict" in his professional duties: For further details, go to [Dealbook, 6/28/12].