Responding to prosecution arguments that Madoff alone couldn't have kept the multibillion-dollar scam running for decades, the attorneys portrayed him as a charismatic pathological liar who duped fellow Wall Street titans, government regulators and thousands of investors.
He did have help, but it wasn't the five former staffers whose trial opened this week, the attorneys argued. Instead, they depicted a former Madoff top lieutenant as playing Mini Me to the disgraced financier's Dr. Evil — expected star prosecution witness Frank DiPascali.
"This is a man that had a genius, an utter genius at manipulating," Eric Breslin, defense counsel for JoAnn Crupi, said of Madoff. "Who did he fool? The better question is, who did he not fool?"
EARLIER: Prosecutors' opening statement
Defense lawyers argued that Crupi and the four former co-workers charged with conspiracy and fraud numbered among the thousands of investors, charities, celebrities and financial institutions victimized by the fraud that ran up an estimated $19 billion in losses.
They said the defendants, like many other former Madoff staffers, appeared to have been hired because they lacked extensive experience with securities industry norms and regulatory requirements. That enabled Madoff and DiPascali, Madoff's former chief financial officer, to mold them to carry out the work of what was touted as a highly successful securities investment business but was actually a massive scam.
"They wanted a pawn," argued Larry Krantz, the attorney for former Madoff computer programmer George Perez, 47.
Daniel Bonventre, 66, a former Madoff manager, "did not know about the Ponzi scheme" and never intended to harm anyone, said defense attorney Andrew Frisch. "Dan's principal job was to pro! tect customers in (Madoff's) broker-dealer business, and the evidence will show that's exactly what he did."
WHO'S WHO: A look at the former employees and their charges
Defense lawyer Roland Riopelle showed jurors electronic slides that argued prosecution evidence won't prove former Madoff assistant Annette Bongiorno, 64, "knew that she was helping anyone to commit a crime" or "ever intended to steal from Madoff's customers or anyone else, including the Internal Revenue Service."
Bongiorno "thought all those years she was playing in the National League," said Riopelle. "She didn't know it was fantasy baseball."
Jerome O'Hara, 50, another former Madoff computer programmer, had no way of knowing that the electronic work he and Perez did helped perpetuate a fraud, said defense attorney Gordon Mehler.
But Madoff right-hand man DiPascali, 56, did know, the defense team argued. He allegedly relayed Madoff's instructions and ensured that lower-ranking employees carried out the orders.
Hoping to avoid a prison sentence similar to Madoff's 150-year term, DiPascali negotiated a cooperation agreement with federal prosecutors and provided evidence in a nearly five-year government investigation of the fraud.
Using the admitted perjurer as a government witness against the five former co-workers "is the equivalent of the Big Bad Wolf getting on the witness stand and condemning Little Red Riding Hood," argued Mehler.
The trial, expected to last as long as five months, is scheduled to resume Monday with testimony from the first prosecution witnesses.
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