Madoff's CFO pleads guilty to all charges

Wiped out by Madoff

Some people invested everything they had with Bernard Madoff. Now, they have nothing. Here are their stories.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Bernard Madoff's long-time deputy, Frank DiPascali, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to crimes including helping others carry out Wall Street's biggest investment fraud.

DiPascali pleaded guilty to 10 charges by U.S. prosecutors including conspiracy, securities fraud, money laundering and perjury. He faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years on some of the charges and up to $500,000 in fines.

"I'm standing here today to tell you that from the early 1990s to 2008 I helped Bernie Madoff and other people carry out a fraud," said DiPascali, 52, standing in Manhattan federal court in a dark suit and reading from a prepared statement.

He did not identify the other people, only the disgraced financier.

DiPascali also said that he recorded securities trades that were "fictitious" and that in January 2006, "under Bernie Madoff's direction, I lied to the SEC about the activities of the firm."

DiPascali worked for 33 years in the investment advisory arm of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in New York, many of them as chief financial officer, before the 2008 economic decline exposed a fraud of as much as $65 billion.

U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan heard that DiPascali signed a seven-page cooperation agreement with the U.S. government and that the former Madoff CFO hoped the judge would consider giving him a lighter sentence.

Madoff, 71, pleaded guilty in March and is in a medium-security prison in Butner, N.C., after a judge sentenced him June 29 to an effective life term of 150 years.