Business | General
Madoff placed under house arrest
Disgraced Wall Street executive Bernard Madoff, accused of running a $50 billion fraud scheme, was put under house arrest on Wednesday.
- Agencies
- Published: 08:37 December 18, 2008
New York/Washington: Disgraced Wall Street executive Bernard Madoff, accused of running a $50 billion fraud scheme, was put under house arrest on Wednesday.
A federal judge ordered Madoff, 70, confined to his $7 million Manhattan apartment and told Madoff's wife, Ruth, to surrender her US passport by noon on Thursday as part of modified bail conditions.
Madoff will be fitted with an electronic ankle bracelet and will only be allowed to leave his home for appointments prearranged with authorities.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission again answered questions about why the alleged fraud went on for a decade.
On Tuesday, SEC chairman Christopher Cox offered an embarrassing apology for not catching the scandal by Madoff's investment advisory firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.
On Wednesday, he said there was no evidence that SEC staff did anything wrong amid accusations the regulator failed to act on tips of alleged fraud by Madoff in the past 10 years.
"I want to emphasise that there is no evidence that anyone is aware of at this point that any personnel did anything wrong," Cox told reporters after an agency meeting.
BNP Paribas SA became the latest European bank to be hit by Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
Its stock was the main loser among Europe's top banks after it announced an unexpected 11-month loss at its CIB investment bank unit, blamed partly on exposure to Madoff.
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