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New York - Madoff Accountant Pleads Guilty and Apologizes |
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Bernard Madoff's accountant David Friehling
Friehling, 49, entered his plea today in Manhattan federal court. He has also reached a cooperation agreement with the government and is helping prosecutors with their probe. He becomes the third person to plead guilty in the multi-billion dollar fraud. Madoff is serving 150 years in prison and aide Frank DiPascali is in jail awaiting sentencing.
The accountant, who served as Madoff’s outside auditor since 1991, told U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein that he didn’t conduct an independent investigation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC as accounting rules required of him. He also said he was unaware of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and accepted on “face value” his claims about the finances of the firm.
“In surely the biggest mistake of my life, I placed my trust in Bernard Madoff,” Friehling told Hellerstein. “I am truly sorry for the suffering of all the victims.”
Read the full story at Bloomberg.com 
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Read Comments (9) — Post Yours »
1
Nov 03, 2009 at 01:58 PM Show me the money Says:
Yeah he is sorry give me the Money and I'll be sorry as well you should have your sorry ass put away for a while
2
Nov 03, 2009 at 04:12 PM formally Says:
maybe he is a naive idiot and got taken like everybody else
3
Nov 03, 2009 at 04:24 PM Aharon Says:
He lost his money with Madoff and has never been accused of knowing about the fraud.
4
Nov 03, 2009 at 05:15 PM Anonymous Says:
“ He lost his money with Madoff and has never been accused of knowing about the fraud. ”
You mean he had his own money invested in a client he is supposed to be auditing? Can you say "conflict of interest"?
5
Nov 03, 2009 at 06:25 PM Aharon Says:
“ You mean he had his own money invested in a client he is supposed to be auditing? Can you say "conflict of interest"? ”
That was wrong but not fraud
6
Nov 03, 2009 at 08:35 PM Anonymous Says:
in a way I pity him he said in his confesion that his $ and the $ for his chilrens colledge education was invested with the bum (madoff) he did not do his job , but unlike maddoff he didn't knowingly fraud people .
7
Nov 03, 2009 at 10:20 PM Anonymous Says:
Its sad he trusted Madoff and got screwed as well. He's out a CPA license and his money.
8
Nov 04, 2009 at 01:17 AM Anonymous Says:
I wonder if they will share a cell.
9
Nov 04, 2009 at 12:36 AM AnotherCPA Says:
He violated every ethical consideration of the profession. Because of him, the licensing laws were changed and now I have to go sit in continuing ed classes I have no need for so I can renew my license. (By the way, I already take over 40 hours per year of continuing ed - this is a NEW requirement for NEW subjects I didn't need before.) Not to mention the wonders he did for the reputation of a profession I've spent over 30 years in. Now let's talk about his aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns - just a "little crime" punishable by 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine (for each count or year).
Needless to say, I and many of his former colleagues, wish him a nice long stay in camp at the government's expense. He was greedy, lazy, dumb, arrogant and crooked - a great combination of attributes. And from third hand stories, so were the rest of his family members.
The sad part is he'll go away for a few years and when he gets out, I'm betting he's still got loads of cash stashed away. Don't feel sorry for the guy. He's getting what (probably less than) he deserves.
I do hope the sentencing judge reads this!!!