Convicted Peter Madoff allowed to party

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NEW YORK, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Peter Madoff, the brother of convicted Ponzi-schemer Bernard Madoff, was allowed a delayed incarceration so he could attend a family bat mitzvah in New York.

A judge delayed the 10-year sentence of Peter Madoff, 67, who was convicted Dec. 20 for complicity in Bernard Madoff's $20 billion Ponzi-scheme fraud, until Feb. 6, in order to allow him to go to his granddaughter's bat mitzvah Saturday and the continuing festivities on Sunday, the New York Post reported.

Peter Madoff joined family and friends for the bat mitzvah of Rebecca Skoller at the Central Synagogue in Manhattan, followed by Sunday's event at 404 NYC, a posh venue, the Post reported.

Michael DeVita, 62, who lost his retirement funds to the Madoff fraud, said, "I would much prefer that Peter Madoff be locked up and the only way he can attend the bat mitzvah is through pictures sent to him in prison."

Madoff was the chief compliance officer at the now-defunct Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities and had worked for his brother for 40 years, the Post said.

"Papa (Peter Madoff) and I have always looked forward to sharing the experience of my bat mitzvah. I would give anything just to have him see me reading from the Torah even if it was only for a second," Skoller wrote to the judge.

Rabbi Peter Rubinstein of the Central Synagogue also petitioned the judge,"I suspect that the unfolding tragedy of Peter's circumstances ... were hatched early on in his dependence on his older brother as the closest father figure he had."