Newsday – Bernard Madoff’s top lieutenant in his Ponzi scheme is scheduled to plead guilty Tuesday to federal charges in what many legal observers believe is a cooperation deal that could lead to trouble for some major hedge fund operators.
Frank DiPascali Jr., 52, of Bridgewater, N.J., had been a key Madoff aide, working in a closely guarded office on the 17th floor of Manhattan’s Lipstick Building, where the Ponzi scheme operated. It was DiPascali, investigators and defense attorneys said, who dealt with the numerous hedge funds and was involved in mailing myriad false account statements sent to thousands of defrauded clients.
