|  | | 2009 News and Press Releases | | |
HEADLINE NEWS:
Interview With Bernie Madoff
Staff Writer
www.hereisthecity.com via The Securities and Exchange Commission. November 2, 2009
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EXCERPT: […] Madoff recalled that with respect to the 2006 OCIE exam, "two young fellows," (Lamore and Ostrow) came in "under the guise of doing a routine exam;" He said that during that time period, sweeps were being done of hedge funds that focused on frontrunning, and that was why he believed Ostrow and Lamore were at BLM. Madoff recalled that they were there for two months, and that they "spent 90% of their time looking through emails." He opined that this is "routine for the SEC now, they feel that's the way they find things." Madoff stated that Ostrow and Lamore looked through bank reconciliations, expense accounts, and checks. He stated that he didn't understand what they were looking for. He said that he had "tons of capital," and so he "didn't understand why they were looking at that stuff." Madoff stated that Ostrow was "so cryptic" and that he spent a "huge amount of time looking at invoices for expenses." Madoff stated that he didn't know what Ostrow was looking for, because he was looking at cancelled checks and phone bills. He stated that he surmised that Ostrow was looking for wrongdoing pertaining to something that was going on in the industry at that time, namely, people paring independent contractors. Madoff also noted that during the 2006 exam, Ostrow in particular kept asking for computer runs. He stated that they taxed his computer programmer in that they "kept asking her to do different runs" and to reformat the material. Madoff stated that Ostrow and Lamore asked him, "Do you do a retail business?" to which he replied no. He stated, however, that "At this time (2006), I was trying to conceal." He also told them, "I don't manage money." Madoff stated that "Everything the SEC did prior to 2006 was a waste of time." |
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