Former Madoff Lieutenant Sees Nothing Wrong With Backdating Trades

Former Bernie Madoff secretary Annette Bongiorno, a key participant in the largest fraud scheme in US history, appears as a short, dawdling woman of almost 200 pounds.  But the 40 year employee, who “unwillingly” rose through the ranks of Madoff’s investment advisory firm, had one key benefit to Madoff: she was loyal and didn’t ask a lot of questions. “I loved Bernie” “I loved Bernie,” Bongiorno said in court testimony yesterday. “He was like my big brother. I had a lot of respect for him.” On a daily basis, Bongiorno played a key role in concealing Madoff’s fraud.  She used…