A little over a year ago, Bernie Madoff received a 150-year sentence (that’s more than most serial murderers get, folks) for his “extraordinarily evil” fraud. Nearly six months later, David Friehling, Madoff’s longtime accountant pleaded guilty to assisting Madoff with the fraud. Friehling, who is expected to receive over 100 years in prison for his role in the scheme (including obstruction of federal tax law charges), was scheduled to be sentenced in February 2010; his sentencing has been postponed until later this year.
So pretty awful, right? The kind of thing that might result in, say, your losing your license to represent clients? You’d think so anyway. Friehling was a CPA and ran an accounting practice together with partner Jerome Horowitz in New City, NY, about 30 miles north of Manhattan (Horowitz died of cancer the day that Madoff pleaded guilty). Friehling and Horowitz were reportedly paid between $12,000 and $14,000 per month for their “work” with Madoff. A lot of money, for sure, but enough to justify spending the rest of your adult life in prison? Not so much.
Despite the guilty plea, Friehling managed to hold onto his CPA license for more than a year after charges were filed. The Office of Professional Discipline of the State of New York didn’t vote to strip Friehling of his license until July 19, 2010. It is worth noting that no official ethics complaints had been filed against Friehling prior to the charges brought in 2009 – but the one that finally did come was a doozy.
I bet you wish george bush was still president now