Scammer
Banned
-- A former aide to Bernard Madoff, who faces charges related to Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme, is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court for a pre-trial hearing Friday.
Annette Bongiorno, 62, will appear before U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who reduced her bail from $5 million to $3 million a week ago. Bongiorno has been under detention at her Manhasset, Long Island, home.
The charges against Bongiorno include conspiracy and tax evasion.
Bongiorno turned herself in to the U.S. Marshals Service in Florida in December after her bail was rejected by a district judge in New York, according to U.S. Marshals Deputy Wayne Pickering.
Bongiorno had been previously approved for bail, but that right was later revoked by Swain over concerns of flight risk, given that Bongiorno has access to millions of dollars, according to court documents.
She is said to have managed investment accounts for some of Madoff's largest and most important customers, including Carl Shapiro, Stanley Chais and Jeffry Picower, said Madoff's secretary, Eleanor Squillari.
"(Bongiorno) was running the accounts for the favored clients," Squillari said. "She really was the head of her department in the investment advisory part of the business."
The government previously filed civil complaints against Bongiorno and Joann Crupi, both longtime Madoff employees who worked as supervisors of his "back office" staff. The suits are intended to retrieve millions of dollars in assets -- including homes and luxury cars -- that the two allegedly received while involved in Madoff's scheme.
In early December, Madoff's son, Mark Madoff, committed suicide in his Manhattan apartment two years to the day after his father was arrested for swindling $50 billion from investors in the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history.
Madoff pleaded guilty in 2009 and was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
Annette Bongiorno, 62, will appear before U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who reduced her bail from $5 million to $3 million a week ago. Bongiorno has been under detention at her Manhasset, Long Island, home.
The charges against Bongiorno include conspiracy and tax evasion.
Bongiorno turned herself in to the U.S. Marshals Service in Florida in December after her bail was rejected by a district judge in New York, according to U.S. Marshals Deputy Wayne Pickering.
Bongiorno had been previously approved for bail, but that right was later revoked by Swain over concerns of flight risk, given that Bongiorno has access to millions of dollars, according to court documents.
She is said to have managed investment accounts for some of Madoff's largest and most important customers, including Carl Shapiro, Stanley Chais and Jeffry Picower, said Madoff's secretary, Eleanor Squillari.
"(Bongiorno) was running the accounts for the favored clients," Squillari said. "She really was the head of her department in the investment advisory part of the business."
The government previously filed civil complaints against Bongiorno and Joann Crupi, both longtime Madoff employees who worked as supervisors of his "back office" staff. The suits are intended to retrieve millions of dollars in assets -- including homes and luxury cars -- that the two allegedly received while involved in Madoff's scheme.
In early December, Madoff's son, Mark Madoff, committed suicide in his Manhattan apartment two years to the day after his father was arrested for swindling $50 billion from investors in the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history.
Madoff pleaded guilty in 2009 and was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
