According to a Bloomberg report, deliberations of the jury in the trial of five former employees of Ponzi scheme king Bernard Madoff has been postponed for the second time after a juror could not make in in court due to sickness. US District Judge Laura Taylor Swain reportedly called a hearing today in the Manhattan federal court to consult with prosecution and defense lawyers on their next steps should the unnamed juror will not be able to return.
The five former employees of Madoff are back-office manager Daniel Bonventre, portfolio managers Annette Bongiorno and Joann Crupi, and computer programmers Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, Fox Business said.
Bloomberg said that the defendants are being tried for conspiring with Madoff to keep up his $17.5 billion investment scam by providing investors millions of fake account statements and trade confirmations to persuade them to place money or continue investing in Madoff's firm on the basis that the business is financially sound.
The hearing today had both prosecutors and defense lawyers agree to move forward with the trial with a jury of 11 members as oppose to the traditional 12. They also had decided to not use an alternate to fill the absence and take over the duties of the sick juror, Bloomberg said. Before the juror got ill, the jury was said to have met for two days.
The news agency said that alternate jurors, together with the original jury, heard all of the testimonies said in the trial, but were later dismissed before the jury deliberations began. The alternate jurors were reportedly advised to stand by just in case that one or several of them would need to step in, and were also ordered to not talk to the media about the case. It is to note that should the court have opted to use an alternate in the absence of the juror, deliberations would need to start afresh.
