Bernard Madoff’s then-computer programmers asked for payment in diamonds to continue aiding the con man’s $17 billion Ponzi scheme in 2006 after they became uncomfortable with their role, a jury was told.
The “crazy” request from Jerome O’Hara and George Perez was turned down, and the men were given salary increases and bonuses, Frank DiPascali, Madoff’s former finance chief, testified Tuesday in Manhattan federal court in the trial of the men and three other ex-colleagues.
“Where the hell am I gonna get a bag of diamonds?” said DiPascali, who pleaded guilty in the case and is testifying in a bid for a lighter sentence. The programmers, who said they were “in a bit of a pickle,” agreed on a “fairly substantial percentage increase” to their salaries, he said.
DiPascali is the highest-ranking former Madoff executive to testify in the first criminal trial stemming from the con man’s scheme. The five former employees are accused of aiding Madoff for decades before the fraud collapsed in 2008.
