Bernard L Madoff

Federal prosecutors disclosed Friday that they were conducting a criminal investigation of Beverly Hills money manager Stanley Chais, who is accused of serving as the Southern California link to a Ponzi scheme operated by disgraced financier Bernard L. Madoff. Assistant U.S. Atty. William J. Stellmach revealed the criminal investigation in a motion that sought to postpone for six months a civil lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Chais in June. Stellmach said that proceedings in the SEC lawsuit, if not suspended, could interfere with an "ongoing, parallel criminal investigation" of Chais.

The top attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission is being sued over allegations that his family's estate wrongfully received more than $1.5 million in phony profits from Bernard L. Madoff's massive fraud. The lawsuit, filed by Madoff trustee Irving Picard, targets David Becker, the SEC's departing general counsel, along with his brothers William and Daniel Becker. All three are coexecutors of the estate of their mother, Dorothy Becker, who died in June 2004. According to the lawsuit filed in federal court in New York, the Becker estate received more than $2 million since Dec. 11, 2002, from Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities.

J. Ezra Merkin, a hedge fund manager who invested billions of dollars of his clients' money with Wall Street swindler Bernard L. Madoff, has agreed to relinquish control of his funds to court-appointed trustees.

The weekend death of Beverly Hills money manager Stanley Chais, who steered hundreds of millions of dollars to the Ponzi scheme operated by Bernard L. Madoff, puts an end to a criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney's office in New York. But a spate of civil lawsuits will probably continue as the government and angry investors try to lay claim to any assets he left behind. Chais, 84, who died Sunday in New York, had been under criminal investigation since January 2009, suspected of operating a so-called feeder fund that channeled millions of dollars from clients to Madoff while telling investors he was making huge gains through equities and other financial instruments.

Re "Madoff an outrage to L.A.'s Jewish," Dec. 24 Bernard L. Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme is not only an outrage to L.A.'s Jews but to all people. All religions have one thing in common: They are made up of human beings. Individuals like Madoff exist in all religions. We must guard against those who would violate the code of human morality, no matter what religious group they belong to. David Hertz Tarzana

It is likely that the country needs to stop talking about values. Wall Street financier Bernard L. Madoff offers even more proof that we have none. ("No Hollywood ending in Madoff investment case," Dec. 17.) Money, or the possibility of earning large amounts of it, clearly trumps integrity. How sad. Lewis Redding Arcadia -- Bernard L. Madoff, who allegedly pulled off a gigantic investor fraud of $50 billion, could potentially be slapped with 20 years in prison and a fine of $5 million.

A New York lawyer who invested millions of dollars with accused swindler Bernard L. Madoff is suing his ex-wife for the return of part of their divorce settlement, saying he was misled about his actual worth. Steven Simkin and Laura Blank held $5.4 million in a Madoff account, according to a statement provided by Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities at the time of the couple's separation in 2004, the lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court says. Simkin paid Blank, his wife of 30 years, half as part of their uncontested divorce settlement, the lawsuit said.

Beverly Hills financial advisor Stanley Chais made a fortune serving as Bernard L. Madoff's connection to Southern California's rich and powerful. He hobnobbed with Hollywood elite, won praise as a generous philanthropist and kept homes on both coasts. These days, the 84-year-old Chais spends the bulk of his time shuttling from one medical appointment to the next, tormented by an ongoing federal criminal investigation and myriad lawsuits that could ruin him financially. Eight months have passed since the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan disclosed that it was considering criminal charges against Chais, but there has been no indictment and little explanation of where the case stands.

If you own U.S. stocks, you should know that the Securities Investor Protection Corp. is considering revamping its rules in the wake of the two biggest quakes ever to hit the brokerage industry — the massive Lehman Bros. collapse and Bernard L. Madoff's record-setting Ponzi scheme. SIPC is the brokerage-industry equivalent of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., with some major differences. SIPC will cover a stock investor for up to $500,000 in securities and cash (there's a $100,000 cap on the cash part)

Federal prosecutors disclosed Friday that they were conducting a criminal investigation of Beverly Hills money manager Stanley Chais, who is accused of serving as the Southern California link to a Ponzi scheme operated by disgraced financier Bernard L. Madoff. Assistant U.S. Atty. William J. Stellmach revealed the criminal investigation in a motion that sought to postpone for six months a civil lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Chais in June. Stellmach said that proceedings in the SEC lawsuit, if not suspended, could interfere with an "ongoing, parallel criminal investigation" of Chais.

Two computer programmers who worked in the New York offices where Bernard L. Madoff operated a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme were arrested by federal agents on suspicion of helping to hide the fraud for more than 15 years. Jerome O'Hara and George Perez designed computer codes and random algorithms that enabled Madoff to defraud investors, the U.S. attorney for Manhattan said. The charges O'Hara, 46, and Perez, 43, face include conspiracy and falsifying documents. Prosecutors said they found handwritten notes in O'Hara's desk from 2006 saying, "I won't lie any longer.

Bernard L. Madoff's longtime auditor pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges, saying he failed to verify the disgraced money manager's financial records but did not know Madoff was running history's biggest Ponzi scheme. David Friehling, 49, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, apologizing to the thousands of victims who lost billions of dollars. The plea was part of a cooperation deal with prosecutors.

Bernard Madoff's investment firm had a "diversion-filled office environment" featuring a culture of "sexual deviance" and drug use, says a lawsuit filed Tuesday against companies that dealt with the Ponzi-scheme mastermind. Starting in 1975, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities had an employee supply the office with drugs, according to the lawsuit. The complaint says the employee was fired in 2003 when Madoff, 71, who is now serving a 150-year prison sentence, worried that the drugs could draw the attention of prosecutors who might discover his financial fraud.