Monday, December 22, 2008

Madoff Accountants



From the New York Times...

The district attorney for Rockland County, N.Y., Thomas P. Zugibe, has begun inquiries into Friehling & Horowitz, the three-person accounting firm that provided services to Mr. Madoff’s firm. Many have asked how a company as small as Friehling — a three-employee firm based in New City, N.Y., that occupies a 13-foot-by-18-foot storefront space in an office plaza — could have handled an operation as large as Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. Friehling & Horowitz is also the subject of a preliminary ethics investigation by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants started after the scandal broke.

Another small accounting firm, Sosnik Bell, handled paperwork for investors in Mr. Madoff’s firm, according to Clusterstock, a financial news blog. Sosnik Bell, based in Fort Lee, N.J., processed forms for these investors, and then forwarded its work to the investors’ own accountants. Executives from Sosnik Bell could not be reached for comment.

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