Bernard Madoff's younger brother, Peter, is expected to plead guilty to criminal charges and has agreed to go to prison for 10 years, in the first admission of wrongdoing by a family member in a multibillion-dollar investment business that turned out to be "just one big lie."
The collapse 3½ years ago of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme wiped out the life savings of hundreds of investors, caused losses at funds and banks all over the world, and triggered a criminal investigation that has resulted in the guilty pleas of seven people, including Bernard Madoff.
Madoff also agreed to the criminal forfeiture of $143 billion, including all of his real estate and personal property. The $143 billion, representing the amount of money believed to have flowed through the business accounts during the multi-decade Ponzi scheme, is included in the criminal forfeiture agreement, though authorities know that Peter Madoff's assets would never approach that figure.
Peter Madoff, 66 years old, is expected to plead guilty to two charges at a hearing Friday in Manhattan federal court, including falsifying the records of an investment adviser and a broad conspiracy count to commit securities fraud and other crimes, according to a letter sent to U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain and filed in court on Wednesday.
However, Peter Madoff, the firm's chief compliance officer, isn't expected to admit to knowing about the fraud itself. Instead, he is expected to admit to conduct that enabled the fraud to continue, even if he didn't know new investor money was being used to pay older investors or that no trading was being conducted at the investment firm.
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