Madoff With It All

Bernie Madoff's former CFO, Frank DiPascali, showed up in federal court today to plead guilty to a host of crimes done while assisting Madoff in his massive scheme as part of a plea deal.

"I was loyal to him. I ended up being loyal to a terrible, terrible fault," Frank DiPascali told a judge during a hearing at which his long-rumored cooperation deal with the government was confirmed.

Both prosecutors and defense attorneys portrayed DiPascali as the man who could unlock his former boss' epic Ponzi scheme and potentially make cases against other defendants.

Since Madoff revealed the fraud to his sons in early December and was arrested by FBI agents, investigators have looked into the actions of his wife, Ruth, his brother and two sons, who ran a trading operation under the same roof, and other insiders.

No other Madoff family members have been charged.

Attorneys argued the former chief financial officer should be free on bail to help investigators sift through a mountain of evidence.

But U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan surprised both sides by ordering DiPascali jailed immediately -- a rarity for a cooperator in a white-collar case who had pleaded guilty.

Sullivan said he felt compelled to keep 52-year-old DiPascali locked up after hearing the defendant admit that, at Madoff's direction, he lied to the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2006 when he thought they might discover the fraud.

Also, there is the small matter of DiPascali assisting in scamming the universe out of $65 billion, the magnitude of which just might have influenced Judge Sullivan.

Still, puts an end to the whole "noble" idea that Madoff acted alone. I'm betting a whole hell of a lot more people are going to end up following the both of them, it's just a question of how many people and for how long they will be in prison.

Steal $65 thousand, and you're a common criminal. Steal $65 billion, and you're in government.