March 2009 plea allocution
testimony
In open court Madoff admitted that the advisory business was a fraud and that statements to customers and to the SEC had been false. The transcript is the criminal case’s factual core.
Because Madoff pleaded guilty, the criminal evidence was not tested through a full trial on the question of guilt. The allocution, the books the trustee reconstructed, and the SEC’s own after-action file are the documents later writers cite.
Civil cases added bank records and feeder-fund transfers. Those filings are voluminous; the items below are the ones that structure the encyclopedia account.
Exhibits
Customer statements vs. trading records
exhibit
Trustee and government reconstructions showed account statements that did not match executed trades at the scale claimed. The mismatch is the documentary heart of the SIPA complaints.
SEC OIG report (2009)
report
Investigation of Failure of the SEC to Uncover Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme catalogues tips, exams, and missed follow-up. It is the primary public record of supervisory failure.
SIPA adversary complaints
filing
Picard’s complaints against funds, banks, and individuals set out transfer dates and amounts the trustee sought to recover as customer property or avoidable transfers.
Sentencing submission and judgment (2009)
judgment
The June 2009 judgment and related papers fix the 150-year term and the forfeiture theory tied to paper losses, later a source of confusion with net-principal figures.
DiPascali and employee pleas
testimony
Guilty pleas by aides described how statements and DTC printouts were prepared. They corroborate the allocution without forming a how-to record; the dockets state conclusions, not a manual.
How strong is the record?
Plea and judgment95
Guilt is admitted on the record; the sentence is final.
Reconstructed books88
Trustee work on principal vs. paper profit is extensive and public in status reports.
Regulatory file80
The OIG report is detailed; some exam workpapers remain less visible than the narrative summary.
Feeder-fund completeness70
Settlements resolved many suits without full trials, so some transfer stories are stipulated rather than found.
The evidence problem in Madoff is not whether a fraud occurred. It is how to read paper losses, net principal, and settlement language without mixing the three.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.