Lifting the Lid: Claim Madoff acted alone meets skepticism

By Grant McCool and Martha Graybow

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Could the Bernard Madoff scandal -- alleged to be the biggest-ever Wall Street scam -- really have been the act of just one person? Fraud experts say they think it's impossible.

White-collar crime experts who are following the Bernard Madoff case say they doubt that the money manager, who authorities say has confessed to the fraud as "all his fault," could have carried out such a massive scheme alone.

They say that based on their experience investigating complex financial cases, the suspected $50 billion fraud was too lengthy and involved too many phony documents to have been carried out by only one individual.

No charges have been brought against anyone except Madoff, who was charged with securities fraud on Dec. 11. He has not formally responded to the accusations in court.

Authorities are continuing to investigate. A lawyer for an accountant at the small auditing firm that Madoff used, Friehling & Horowitz in a suburb of New York City, told Reuters that his client had received a subpoena from federal prosecutors requesting documents.

"He is going to comply with that subpoena," attorney Andrew Lankler said of his client, accountant David Friehling.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in New York, which is prosecuting the case, has declined to comment on the probe.

Legal experts not involved in the case, including fraud investigators and former federal prosecutors, say it is hard to believe no one else associated with Madoff knew of the suspected scheme.