Craig Warga/NYDN/NY Daily News
Details of a love triangle that allegedly included Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff can be heard at trial, a judge rules.
This could make for a screwy trial.
The low-down on sex romps involving Bernie Madoff employees, including a love triangle with the Ponzi schemer himself, will be allowed in court, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Manhattan Federal Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied, at least for now, a motion by prosecutors to have the raunchy details barred from the trial of Madoff’s longtime secretary and other former Madoff employees.
The trial is scheduled to start Oct. 7.
“The parties’ opposition and reply submissions indicate that communications regarding the nature and evidentiary implications of information regarding the alleged romantic relationships are ongoing,” Swain said Tuesday in a written order on the juicy details.
“The Court has insufficient information at this juncture to rule on the application. It is denied as premature, without prejudice to renewal in the event the parties come to an impasse regarding an anticipated proffer,” Swain concluded.
Last month, the feds said that “a number of Madoff Securities employees and customers – including expected witnesses, defendants and others – were engaged in romantics or sexual relationships.”
Jefferson Siegel
Annette Bongiorno, who managed over $ 8 billion in accounts for Bernie Madoff, won approval from the judge to bring a special chair into the courtroom for the trial.
RELATED: BERNIE MADOFF’S EX-SECRETARY WANTS TO SIT PRETTY AT TRIAL
Prosecutors also said “one of the defendants was in a love triangle with Bernard Madoff himself.” The defendant in question was not identified, but an earlier lawsuit filed in state court against Madoff claimed that his office was ruled by “a culture of sexual deviancy” and hosted drug-fueled parties with waitresses in G-strings.
The five defendants, secretary Annette Bongiorno, office worker Joann Crupi, operations manager Daniel Bonventre and computer programmers George Perez and Jerome O’Hara, are charged with abetting the $ 65 billion scam that put their boss behind bars.
Bongiorno and Crupi pocketed millions from the Ponzi scheme, according to the feds.
The feds declined to comment on the ruling.
The secretary and her tush scored a pre-trial victory Tuesday, winning approval from the judge to bring a special chair into the courtroom for the trial.
Bongiorno made the request, first reported by the Daily News, because she “is diminutive in stature.”
“The standard chairs in the Southern District courtroom are uncomfortable for her to sit in for extended periods,” her lawyer wrote.
dbeekman@nydailynews.com
http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=14450
via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
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