Madoff Secretary Gets 6 Years For Role In Ponzi Scheme

NPR

Published December 10, 2014 at 1:35 PM EST

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Annette Bongiorno, age 65, who served as an executive assistant for Madoff Investment Securities, leaves federal court after being found guilty of charges of aiding, assisting and profiting from the Ponzi scheme run by Bernard Madoff on March 24, 2014 in New York City. (Andrew Burton/AFP/Getty Images)

Employees complicit in Bernie Madoff’s multi-billion dollar ponzi scheme were sentenced Tuesday, including his former secretary who became rich working for her disgraced boss.

Annette Bongiorno earned millions keeping the books as Madoff’s secretary. A federal judge in Manhattan sentenced her to six years in a Florida prison. The judge said Bongiorno wasn’t “fundamentally corrupt,” but she should have recognized the fraud she helped perpetuate. Bongiorno could have faced life in prison.

The judge also sentenced a former computer programmer, Jerome O’Hara, to two and a half years in prison. CNN business reporter Maggie Lake talks to Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson about the sentence.

Guest

Maggie Lake, business reporter for CNN. She tweets @maggielake.