6/10/2009: Frank DiPascali's sister works for JPMorgan Chase, not his wife. Another one of DiPascali's sisters, Diane, is married to Robert Cardile who worked for DiPascali on the 17th floor.

Update: Joanne Dipascali actually works out of JPMorgan Chase's Iselin NJ office which is the center of the firm's mortgage business. JPMorgan Chase frantically pushed mortgages to anyone who could sign on the dotted line and then pooled them for resale. The statistics in this 2007 offering tells all. Out of a  $473 million mortgage pool, only $181 million of mortgages issued were supported by any income verification whatsoever. $440 million of the mortgages are interest only, $238 million had second liens at inception and the average outstanding balance is $476k.

Nice family. Frank pushes phony equities and his wife writes worthless mortgages.

Frank Dipascali, referred to in the media as either Madden CFO or senior execuive, is married to Joanne Dipascali, an employee of JPMorganChase National Association, the private banking arm of JPMorgan. Frank is the only non-family employee working on the 17th floor who has been publicly identified to date. (Charles Wiener, another 17th floor employee, is Bernie's sister's son.)

According to a 12/18/08 SEC complaint, Madoff maintained two bank accounts at JPMorganChase and three at Bank of America Mellon. At the end of every reporting period, Madoff's firm reportedly converted its holdings to cash equivalents, i.e. treasury bills, to avoid SEC disclosure requirements. That practice was a big red flag and the SEC should have confirmed Madoff's cash balances at 12/31/05 as a matter of routine during its 2006 investigation.

A couple of posts ago, I speculated as to why the Madoff family trusted someone named Dipascali and whether organized crime is involved in the scandal. Now I read that Joanne Dipascali is from Howard Beach. Not for nothing but a lot of members of organized crime are out of Howard Beach, too. She also lived in Island Park, home of Alphonse D'Amato and Phil Basile.

The Dipascalis now live in Bridgewater NJ and appear to be enjoy marlin fishing on their boat, the Dorothy-Jo. In fact, the Dipascalis like fishing so much, Joanne started a business named  Dorothy-Jo Sportfishing LLC which, according to Manta, is in the Sports Club/Manager/Promoter business. Great way to launder money! 

I am surprised no one in the press has reported the the link between Madoff's firm and JPMorganChase. I don't know if one has to do with the other but the stock fell on 12/15. It also fell substantially in late November. Someone might have had advance notice of pending problems at the bank. 

If Madoff was working with organized crime, the SEC and the exchanges are not going to tell John Q. Public about it, investor confidence and all that.

I'm starting to wonder if Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen is lending taxpayer money to banks to buy other banks to cover up an even bigger scandal in the markets. Maybe  somebody became curious enough to check whether any of the banks now being bought actually had cash on hand and they didn't. 

Remember Businessweek's 1996 story, "The Mob on Wall Street - Part I & II? The wiseguys never got put away like they should have been.  

For what its worth, information about the Dipascalis is fast disappearing from Google.

Whether I'm right or wrong about Bernie and the mob, I want to know why the Madoffs trusted Frank Dipascali with their deepest, darkest secrets and $24 billion.