Three-month delay sought on Madoff restitution-DJ

Date: Monday, June 22, 2009
Author: Reuters.com

U.S. prosecutors said on Friday they need more time to examine financial records of swindler Bernard Madoff, asking a judge to postpone a decision on restitution for 90 days, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Late on Friday, prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Denny Chin to delay a decision on restitution for three months and not consider it as part of Madoff's sentencing on June 29, Dow Jones said.

Madoff, 71, pleaded guilty in March to securities fraud, money laundering and perjury after confessing to running a massive Ponzi scheme of as much as $65 billion for more than 20 years.

A court-appointed trustee, searching for money to return to his victims, recently found microfilm records for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC that may date back to 1979, which are now being analyzed, the Dow Jones report said.

The government cited "the difficulties presented in the reconstruction of the record of defendant's fraud and victim loss in this case -- difficulties caused by the condition of the records kept by defendant, as well as the scope and duration of the fraud," the newswire reported. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Alex Richardson)