Banks And KPMG Named In Madoff Suit

JPMorgan Chase, the Bank of New York, and the accounting firm of KPMG have been named as co-defendants in a lawsuit again super-crook Bernie Madoff.

"KPMG never blew the whistle on fraudulent conduct" at Madoff's British firm, Madoff Securities International Ltd, which the accounting firm audited. KPMG declined comment as did JPMorgan Chase. A representative for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, parent company of Openheimer and Tremont funds, could not immediately be reached for comment. The complaint, filed in New York State Supreme Court, also alleges "abuse of drugs and women as a pattern of conduct in the Madoff firm" - Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in New York. "JPMorgan Chase, the complaint alleges, helped Madoff launder money between the United States and London -- almost $6 billion of investors' money," said Cotchett, whose law firm Cotchett, Pitre and McCarthy is based in Burlingame, California.

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