New Signs Madoff's Family Knew

by Allan Dodds Frank
The Daily Beast

Within 90 days of Bernie Madoff's confession, friends and family withdrew $735 million, investigators have found. Madoff's circle was broader than originally thought.

The bankruptcy trustee hunting for Bernie Madoff’s assets suspects that some of Madoff’s relatives, employees, and hedge-fund associates may have known—or suspected—his Ponzi scheme was collapsing. It is the latest sign that the circle of people aware of at least aspects of the Madoff scheme may have been much broader than originally thought.

The Daily Beast has learned that in the 90 days leading to the collapse of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, $735 million was withdrawn from accounts controlled by Madoff’s relatives, employees, and their relatives, and by people who fed billions of dollars of investors’ money to Madoff. The dollar amount has been previously known. What has not been reported until now is the unusually short period in which the withdrawals were made, and how close it was to the collapse of the Madoff firm and to his confession on December 10, 2008.

(More here.)