DiPascali has pleaded guilty to all ten counts against him and faces 125 years in prison, just 25 years less than Bernie (academic really). However, because he is cooperating with the U.S. Attorney, DiPascali may be lucky enough to get a sentence under the 100 years (still academic).

“It was all fake; it was all fictitious,” said Mr. DiPascali in court. “It was wrong and I knew it at the time.”

The WSJ illuminates the case with some interesting details – Mr. DiPascali, was a college dropout who joined Madoff’s firm in 1975 at age 18 and was later a key executive overseeing the bulk of the day-to-day operations of Madoff’s investment-advisory business. He was also the person many of Madoff’s investors dealt with regarding their accounts. So the front line purveyor of bull****.

One of their phantom book-keeping strategies was to produce fake records from the Depository Trust Corp., the company that acts as the central depository for securities in the U.S.

Mr. DiPascali “and others spent substantial time and effort ensuring that these reports mimicked the layout, print font and paper-type of actual DTC reports.”

The WSJ also reports that last month, David Friehling, Madoff’s outside auditor, waived indictment and pleaded not guilty to securities fraud and other criminal charges.