NEW YORK, NY (AP) --Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's longtime auditor has entered a guilty plea in a federal court in Manhattan.
David Friehling entered a plea Tuesday. The judge was questioning him before deciding whether to accept it.
Prosecutors said previously that they expected Friehling to plead guilty to securities fraud and other charges that are punishable by up to 108 years in prison. However, substantial cooperation can result in leniency.
Prosecutors said Friehling would have known that Madoff was carrying out history's biggest Ponzi scheme -- because he kept the books.
Despite the more than $65 billion in private investments that Madoff claimed he oversaw for thousands of investors, Friehling seemed to be a small-time auditor with a tiny office in suburban New City, N.Y. Authorities say he appeared to have rubber stamped Madoff's records.
Authorities say if Friehling had done his job, they would have known years earlier that Madoff was carrying out history's greatest Ponzi scheme by paying money to some investors with the proceeds he received from other investors.
When Madoff revealed his fraud last December in a confession to his sons and later to the FBI, it was discovered that only a few hundred million dollars was left of the more than $170 billion that prosecutors say went through his accounts over the years. Prosecutors say investors originally entrusted Madoff with more than $13 billion and he greatly exaggerated bogus gains.
Earlier this week, a federal judge in Manhattan continued to deny bail for Frank DiPascali, Madoff's former finance chief who is cooperating after pleading guilty in August to helping Madoff carry out his fraud.
