Frank DiPascali

Frank DiPascali, Jr. (October 28, 1956 – May 7, 2015) worked for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC for 33 years and was a key lieutenant of Bernard Madoff. He referred to himself as the company's "director of options trading" and as "chief financial officer". On August 11, 2009, he pleaded guilty to ten counts related to the Madoff investment scandal. He was denied bail before sentencing and spent two weeks in jail before being released. He died of lung cancer in 2015 while awaiting sentencing.

DiPascali grew up next door to Annette Bongiorno, Madoff's long time personal secretary. She recruited him to work for Madoff. He graduated from Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, New York in 1974, and joined Madoff's firm in 1975, ultimately rising to be CFO. According to him, he was enrolled at St. John’s University and Brooklyn College. DiPascali and his wife, JoAnne, lived in a five-bedroom house with a pool on seven acres in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey assessed at $1.38 million. They had three black Mercedes and a 61-foot Viking yacht, registered to Dorothy-Jo Sportfishing LLC.

DiPascali's brother-in-law, Robert Cardile, bought his former house in Bridgewater for $400,000. Cardile began working for Madoff in 1985, and responded to phone inquiries for DiPascali.

In January, 2005, a tax lien of $77,479 by the IRS for the 1996 tax year was paid by DiPascali three months later.

In 2000 New Jersey unpaid taxes of $72,943 were paid. In 1993, New York State Tax Commission filed an action for $21,685, which was also paid. He died from lung cancer on May 7, 2015 at the age of 58 while awaiting sentencing.

Financial journalist and Madoff biographer Erin Arvedlund describes DiPascali as an abrasive man who padded his resume. Since 1975, at age 18, DiPascali eventually oversaw the day-to-day operations of Madoff's investment-advisory business. He became the director of options in 1986, and CFO in 1996. He also claims to have been a director of Madoff Securities International Limited in London, but Companies House (the UK registrar of companies) has no record of him ever being appointed as a director of the company. He was the person many of Madoff's investors dealt with regarding their accounts. Madoff told investors DiPascali executed trades. However, a court-appointed trustee found that no trading had occurred for at least 13 years. Prosecutors have asked at least three employees, Eric Lipkin, JoAnn Crupi, and Robert Cardile, DiPascali's brother-in-law, about his role in the firm.

Investors spoke to these other employees and would fax orders if they needed to withdraw money. DiPascali's name was sometimes given as an alternate contact.

According to an SEC memo, DiPascali "responded evasively" to questioning following Madoff's arrest.

DiPascali pleaded guilty on August 11, 2009, to 10 federal criminal charges: conspiracy, securities fraud, investment advisor fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, perjury, income tax evasion, international money laundering, falsifying books and records of a broker-dealer, and falsifying books and records of an investment advisor. He admitted to the U.S. District Court that he learned in the late 1980s or early 1990s that no trading was occurring in Madoff's investment-advisory client accounts. About 2002, he set up an account for himself at the firm named after his fishing yacht, Dorothy Jo. Having never made a contribution, he withdrew more than $5 million. His salary and bonuses was over $2 million annually. He recounted how he, Madoff, and "other people" manipulated account statements, leading clients to believe that they were creating wealth for them. "No purchases or sales of securities were actually taking place in their accounts. It was all fake. It was all fictitious. It was wrong, and I knew it was wrong at the time." He had agreed to connect the dots and to name names while sentencing was anticipated in May 2010. He faced a maximum sentence of 125 years in federal prison. Prosecutors sought more than $170 billion in forfeiture, the same amount sought from Madoff, which represented funds deposited by investors and later disbursed to other investors. The same day, a Securities and Exchange Commission civil complaint was filed against DiPascali.

Prosecutors sought bail for DiPascali, but the presiding Judge Richard J. Sullivan contended he was a flight risk. At a bail hearing on October 28, 2009, U.S. federal judge Sullivan, deferred a decision and requested additional information, while a representative of the victims of the scheme opposed DiPascali's release. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Frank DiPascali, register number 62586-054, was released November 12, 2009.

He was represented by attorney Marc Mukasey, a son of former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Mukasey said that while Mr. DiPascali was “1,000 percent guilty”, he had believed—before the Ponzi scheme collapsed—that Madoff could somehow repay his clients.