Madoff accountant pleads guilty

The former outside accountant for Bernard Madoff's firm pleaded guilty to fraud charges on yesterday, but he told a US judge he did not know about the swindler's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

David Friehling, the former auditor who worked on Madoff's books for 17 years out of a small suburban New York firm from 1991, was allowed to remain free on bond of $2.5 million until he is sentenced next year.

"At no time was I aware that Mr Madoff was engaged in a Ponzi scheme," Friehling told US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan federal court during an hour-long plea proceeding. "I never had contact with investors and never acted as a feeder to investors."

Madoff (71) is serving a 150-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to orchestrating the worldwide decades-long scheme of as much as $65 billion, considered Wall Street's biggest investment fraud.

Friehling (49) is one of only three people who have been criminally charged so far in the case. The others are Madoff himself and his longtime deputy Frank DiPascali (53), who is jailed pending sentencing next year.

Both Friehling and DiPascali are cooperating with investigators, who are expected to bring more criminal charges in the scam that defrauded thousands of investors, including charities.

Reuters