Madoff programmers arrested
Two computer programmers that worked for Bernie Madoff’s firm have been charged with helping the convicted white collar criminal to defraud investors out of billions of dollars.
Jerome O’Hara of Malvern, N.Y., and George Perez of East Brunswick, N.J. Were arrested Friday, charged with assisting Madoff operate and cover up his Ponzi scheme. The two were also advised of a suit against them by securities regulators for the same reasons, according to a CNET story. All parties allege that the two had helped keep the Madoff fraud running for more than 15 years and took “hush money” to keep it secret.
Officially, the complaints accuse the men of creating and maintaining the software that enabled Madoff to generate a completely fictitious paper trail to conceal his fraud from both investors and regulators. Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said “Jerome O’Hara and George Perez allegedly helped construct Bernie Madoff’s house of cards. The computer codes and random algorithms they allegedly designed served to deceive investors and regulators, and concealed Madoff’s crimes.” Madoff apparently ordered his right-hand man in the scheme to give the two programmers whatever they wanted to keep them happy. Thereafter, the two men received 25 percent pay increases and bonuses of about $60,000.
It should have been apparent to people in the technology field that Madoff had to have programming help from people that knew what was going on in the company. None of those previously arrested had the necessary computer systems knowledge to pull of the largest financial fraud in history, a crime that required a great deal of digital support. The two are alleged to be responsible for writing the code which produced records of financial transactions that were never actually made, and for producing the necessary paper trail for those phony transactions which were then handed over to stock regulators in the U.S. and Great Britain to support Madoff’s claims.
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