Madoff takes first step to plea-court document

By Grant McCool and Martha Graybow

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Accused swindler Bernard Madoff took the first public step to a guilty plea on criminal charges of running a $50 billion investment fraud over many years, according to court papers on Friday.

A document filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan said U.S. prosecutors intend to file a criminal "information" in their case against Madoff "upon the defendant's waiver of an indictment."

There was no indication when the information would be filed. Such a document is typically filed when a defendant is expected to plead guilty.

Prosecutors have until March 13 to indict Madoff or reach a plea agreement. Authorities said he confessed in December to running "a giant Ponzi scheme," in which early investors are paid with the money of new clients.

"This is the first step in order to enter a plea agreement," said Peter Henning, a professor at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, and a former federal prosecutor. "Most plea agreements are done by a criminal information rather than an indictment."

Madoff, a once-respected Wall Street trader and investment manager, was arrested and charged with one count of securities fraud on Dec. 11. He is out on $10 million bail and under house arrest in his luxury New York apartment and 24-hour surveillance.

Madoff's lawyers were not immediately available to comment. The U.S. Attorney in New York declined comment.

(Reporting by Grant McCool and Martha Graybow; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)