By Jonathan Stempel
Oct 1 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Monday announced
expanded charges against five former employees of Bernard
Madoff's firm, in an indictment that dates the conspiracy to
defraud clients to roughly two decades earlier than previously
alleged.
The new charges against former operations manager Daniel
Bonventre, former investment advisory employees Annette
Bongiorno and Joann Crupi, and former computer programmers
Jerome O'Hara and George Perez are contained in a 33-count
indictment, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.
Bharara said the indictment includes new charges against the
defendants, including bank fraud charges related to both
corporate and personal loans, as well as new tax offenses.
The original November 2010 indictment dated the conspiracy
to defraud clients of the former Bernard L. Madoff Investment
Securities LLC to roughly 1992, but Bharara said the new
indictment dates the conspiracy to the early 1970s. "We will not
rest until all the alleged participants and enablers are made to
answer for their conduct," Bharara said in a statement.
The defendants are expected to be arraigned on Tuesday
afternoon, Bharara said. Madoff, 74, is serving a 150-year
sentence in a North Carolina federal prison.
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