Madoff May Plead Guilty

It appears that Bernard Madoff may be nearing a plea deal with prosecutors. Madoff was arrested on Dec. 11, 2008 and charged with securities fraud for his leading role in an estimated $50 billion Ponzi scheme. According to Bloomberg, "Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Litt today filed a one-page document in Manhattan federal court indicating the government will file an “information,” or charging document, after Madoff agrees to waive a grand jury indictment. Defendants who agree to plead guilty to an information often first waive indictment."

According to a former SEC attorney interviewd by Bloomberg, "“Madoff is about to enter his guilty plea. A criminal information is a consented- to criminal charge used to enter a guilty plea.”

The document released today byt the US Attorney's Office does not indicate if Madoff will waive indictment.

In related news today, the SEC announced it has plans to revamp its whistle-blower policy in wake of the Madoff fraud (and presumably the Stanford CD fraud as well). This comes after years of lax enforcement and a culture which seemingly did little to encourage whistle blowers to come forward.