U.S. expands criminal case against 5 ex-Madoff employees

U.S. prosecutors on Monday announced expanded charges against five former employees of Bernard Madoff's firm, in an indictment that dates the conspiracy to defraud clients to roughly two decades earlier than previously alleged.

The new charges against former operations manager Daniel Bonventre, former investment advisory employees Annette Bongiorno and Joann Crupi, and former computer programmers Jerome O'Hara and George Perez are contained in a 33-count indictment, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.

Bharara said the indictment includes new charges against the defendants, including bank fraud charges related to both corporate and personal loans, as well as new tax offenses.

The original November 2010 indictment dated the conspiracy to defraud clients of the former Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC to roughly 1992, but Bharara said the new indictment dates the conspiracy to the early 1970s. "We will not rest until all the alleged participants and enablers are made to answer for their conduct," Bharara said in a statement.

The defendants are expected to be arraigned on Tuesday afternoon, Bharara said. Madoff, 74, is serving a 150-year sentence in a North Carolina federal prison.

(Reporting By Jonathan Stempel in Washington, D.C.; Editing by Gary Hill)