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Ex-Madoff accountant expected to plead guilty: court hearing


    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bernard Madoff's former accountant is expected to plead guilty to charges that he helped the convicted swindler run his massive Ponzi scheme, a U.S. prosecutor said on Tuesday at a court hearing.

    Paul Konigsberg, a former senior tax partner at Konigsberg Wolf & Co, is scheduled to appear in court on June 25, when he will likely enter a guilty plea pursuant to a cooperation agreement with the government, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Schwartz told U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain on Tuesday.

    "We are finalizing the terms of a plea," he said.

    Konigsberg and his defense attorney, Reed Brodsky, attended the hearing but did not discuss the possible plea. Brodsky declined to comment following the hearing.

    Konigsberg would be the 15th defendant to be convicted either at trial or via a guilty plea in connection with Madoff's fraud, estimated to have cost investors more than $17 billion in principal.

    In March, five former Madoff aides were convicted of all counts after one of the longest white-collar trials in Manhattan federal court history.

    (Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)