NEW YORK (LALATE) – Sonja Kohn was Bernie Madoff’s “criminal south mate”, claims Irving Picard. Sonja Kohn’s relationship with Bernard Madoff started in 1985; because of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, Kohn, now 62, was able to build a massive Vienna bank, claims the trustee now pursuing her.

Sonja Kohn is the latest defendant to face off against Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff’s firm. To date, Picard had gotten for victims $2.5 billion.

But the Kohn’s lawsuit could change all that.

Picard is seeking from Picard and nearly a dozen European banks upwards of $58.8 billion. His valuation is $19.6 billion in damages, trebled under the RICO statute.

Picard claims Kohn and Madoff knew each one another’s dealings. Picard claims Kohn made money on alleged knowledge that Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme. Picard even alleged that Kohn knew Madoff was going to be arrested and got her money out before his arrest.

The 153 page complaint filed by Picard against Kohn, Bank Medici, Bank Austria, UniCredit could dramatically change the dynamic of funds recovered for Madoff victims. In Sonja Kohn,”Madoff found a criminal soul mate, whose greed and dishonest inventiveness equaled his own” said Picard Friday.

Ms Kohn defended herself last year about the same allegations. She told the WSJ in 2009 “I am actually the greatest Madoff victim. It is a tragedy for my family, my company and for me personally.” “The Ponzi scheme could not have continued for as long as it did [if not for Kohn]” said Picard’s lawsuit.

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NEW YORK (LALATE) – Mark Madoff (photo above) is dead at 46. Mark Madoff hanged himself in an apparent suicide. Madoff was the son of incarcerate Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff.

Mark Madoff’s suicide was on the two year anniversary of his father’s arrest. Mark Madoff was criminally never linked to his father scheme, nor arrested. In a statement today, his lawyer told news that Mark Madoff was an innocent family member who couldn’t endure the alleged false criticisms against him for his father’s acts.

Trustee Irving H. Picard disagreed.

As the trustee liquidating the Bernie Madoff company, Picard had sued  Madoff’s two sons, brother, wife and a niece. Mark Madoff and his brother both worked for Madoff Investment Securities LLC as employees. Martin Flumenbaum who represents Mark and his brother Andrew said in a news statement today “Mark Madoff took his own life today. This is a terrible and unnecessary tragedy. Mark was an innocent victim of his father’s monstrous crime who succumbed to two years of unrelenting pressure from false accusations and innuendo.”

No charges were ever brought against Mark Madoff. Bernie Madoff claimed he acted alone.

But on Friday, Sonja Kohn, Bank Medici, Bank Austria, UniCredit SpA, and nearly dozens more defendants were named in a massive new lawsuit brought by Picard.  Picard claims Kohn knew Madoff’s operation was a Ponzi scheme.

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NEW YORK (LALATE) – Sonja Kohn, founder of Bank Medici AG, has been named as a defendant in a new lawsuit brought by the trustee liquidating the Bernie Madoff company.

Sonja Kohn, Bank Medici, Bank Austria, UniCredit SpA, and nearly dozens more defendants were named in a massive lawsuit brought by trustee Irving H. Picard today. The case was is in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. It’s the largest suit brought by Picard to date.

Picard claims Kohn knew Madoff’s operation was a Ponzi scheme. The 153 page complaint is seeking $19.6 billion in damages, trebled to $58.8 billion under the RICO Act. Picard asserts, that before Madoff confessed to his crimes, Kohn pulled $536 million of investments out of Madoff’s company.

Kohn has yet to comment. Martin Halama, a spokesman for Bank Austria, issued the following statement tonight. “Our attorneys are reviewing the matter and we will manage this through the normal course legal process. We intend to defend ourselves vigorously.”

The complaint asserts that an alleged “illegal scheme” enriched Kohn and even her family…. “at the expense of the BLMIS estate and on the backs of Madoff’s victims.”

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Bernie Maddoff’s Daniel Bonventre has been arrested. Daniel Bonventre’s arrest was at his New York home early today by the FBI.  A press conference is expected shorlty.

Daniel Bonventre will appear in a U.S. federal court in New York City later today. Daniel Bonventre’s charges are still not known. But at 63, Daniel Bonventre would be the sixth person arrested in the Madoff matter.

Daniel Bonventre is the former operations director at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Madoff is currently serving a 150 year prison term. A press conference on Daniel Bonventre is expected this morning.

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Carmine Persico and Jonathan Pollard are the new men in Bernie Madoff’s life. Weekend at Bernie’s it is not. Mafia head Carmine Persico and spy Jonathan Pollard now share a prison cell with Madoff.

Persico is the famous mobster, and Pollard is the 1987 convicted spy found guilty of spying for Israel. Both have life sentences. Madoff is 71 and is currently serving a 150 year prison sentence.

Persico went by the names of Junior, the Snake, and Immortal. Since the 1970s, Carmine Persico was believed to be the Boss of the Colombo family of the U.S. mafia.

In the 1960s, Persico’s division of the Colombo family was believed the most profitable. Joe Valachi, the first federal cooperator from the Cosa Nostra, testified about Persico, “Whenever business on the streets, Persico was always there.” In May of 1978, Joe Colombo’s shooting prompted the questioning of Persico, but he was set free. After that date, investigators viewed him as the Boss of the Colombo family even though Carmine Persico would intentionally rank himself as Underboss under Vinny Aloi because he knew he was under surveillance.

In 1985, he was added to the Ten Most Wanted List. Two months later, he was arrested. In the years that followed in the 1990s, the Colombo family would again get completely restructured.

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