Legal News

?I Like Ike?: Madoff Likely to Waive Conflicts Involving Lawyer

By Ashby Jones

Thursday’s the big day for Bernie Madoff — that’s when he’s expected to plead guilty to crimes related to his alleged multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

But prior to Thursday, there’s a little deck-clearing that needs to take place. At a hearing later Tuesday, prosecutors will present evidence of potential conflicts of interest owned by Madoff’s lawyer, Ike Sorkin. (Click here, and here for previous LB coverage of Sorkin’s possible conflicts-of-interest; here for the WSJ preview.)

As a preview of possible issues to arise today, check out this letter submitted by the government to Judge Leonard Sand outlining the possible conflicts. The letter states that Sorkin invested about $18,000 with Madoff’s firm in the early 1990s. Sorkin has said he believes he transferred the investment to another brokerage firm in 1995.

Federal prosecutors said they don’t view that as a potential conflict of interest that could affect his representation.

“Because this investment was liquidated more than 10 years ago and Mr. Sorkin has had no investment with (Madoff’s investment firm) since then, the government does not believe that these facts present any potential conflicts,” wrote assistant U.S. attorney Lisa Baroni.

At the hearing, Madoff is expected to be informed of other potential conflicts raised by prosecutors, including that Sorkin’s parents once had a $900,000 investment with Madoff. Madoff will be asked to waive those conflicts.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 10, 2009 (boomark / email).