Madoff's payroll manager pleads guilty

NEW YORK, June 7 (UPI) -- Former payroll manager Eric Lipkin pleaded guilty Tuesday in New York to assisting Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff conceal the scam from regulators.

At one point in his appearance in Manhattan federal court, Lipkin said, " "I worked with other Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities employees to deceive others."

He also said, "I knew these document were false because they were created by me," the New York Post reported.

Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence for operating the scam that lost $65 billion.

Lipkin, now 37, began working for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities as a teenager, assisting his father, Irwin Lipkin, who was Madoff's comptroller and one of his earliest employees.

As payroll manger, Lipkin paid numerous no-show employees. He also invented fraudulent account, so he could qualify for a construction loan, the New York Daily News reported.

Lipkin, who is cooperating with authorities, was released on a $2.5 million bond.

Judge Laura Taylor Swain, however, ordered Lipkin to turn in his wife's and his children's passports to prevent him from fleeing.

He could receive 70 years in prison on a variety of counts, but will get less if prosecutors write a letter saying he has been cooperating.