NEW YORK – Lawyers for five people charged with fraud in New York have many things to say about their former employer, Bernard Madoff — mostly bad.
The lawyers spoke Thursday to jurors hearing the first criminal trial to result from the 5-year-old revelation of Madoff's historic fraud.
They said Madoff was too secretive and manipulative to let employees in on his crimes. The lawyers said their clients knew nothing of a fraud that cost thousands of investors billions of dollars.
They called Madoff a Wall Street icon, a control freak, a great liar, a genius manipulator, and private and secretive.
Defendants include Madoff's longtime secretary, his director of operations, an account manager and two computer programmers. A prosecutor says they were crucial to the fraud.
After a break Friday, testimony will begin Monday.
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