US / Bernie Madoff Former Madoff Secretary Wants Early Prison Release Annette Bongiorno will have served two thirds of her six-year prison term by March 19 By Newser Editors and Wire Services Posted Dec 24, 2018 3:15 PM CST Copied Annette Bongiorno leaves federal court in New York, Monday, Feb. 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) A lawyer for the former secretary for imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff is asking that she be released from prison in March. Attorney Roland Riopelle says 70-year-old Annette Bongiorno will have served two thirds of her six-year prison term by March 19 and should be released then. He cited a law signed by President Donald Trump last week permitting judges to order some prisoners released to home confinement after serving two-thirds of a sentence, per the AP. He says her advanced age makes her eligible. Bongiorno was among five Madoff employees convicted for their roles in a scheme that cost thousands of investors about $20 billion. She was sentenced in 2014. Bongiorno maintained she was unaware of history's biggest Ponzi scheme. Madoff is serving 150 years in prison. (Meanwhile, the stock market just had one of its worst Christmas Eve trading days ever.) Report an error