Madoff’s Secretary Could Be Released Early Under Jared’s Prison Reform Law
Annette Bongiorno Image by Getty Images
The longtime secretary of convicted financial schemer Bernard Madoff should be released early from prison, as her age qualifies her to benefit from the newly-passed prison reform law, her lawyer told the New York Daily News.
Annette Bongiorno should be released by March, after serving four years of her six-year prison sentence, according to her attorney Roland Riopelle.
Riopelle brought up the First Step Act, which gives judges the authority to release some prisoners to home confinement after serving two-thirds of a sentence. Her older age, at 70, also makes her eligible.
President Trump signed the bill into law last week. Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and senior adviser, received credit for his leadership and influence in getting it passed.
Bongiorno was one of five of Madoff’s employees convicted for their roles in his Ponzi scheme, in which thousands of investors lost billions of dollars. Without early release, she would sit in jail until May 1, 2020. Instead, she could spend the last year of her sentence in home confinement.
Manhattan federal prosecutors declined to comment to the Daily News.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
