Bernie Madoff: Why Is Bernie's Controller, Enrica Cotellessa-Pitz, Getting A Pass In The Press?
WANTED: 
(ENRICA COTELLESSA-PITZ
BERNIE'S LONG TIME CONTROLLER)
Controller -The chief accounting officer of a business enterprise or an institution.(Merriam-Webster)
Enrica Cotellessa-Pitz held herself out as someone who acted in a fiduciary capacity. As such, she was duty-bound to act with fidelity and honesty. Looks like Cotellessa-Pitz really blew it but other than Jay Berkman, the fellow behind the I-Am-Bernie-Madoff blog, I seem to be only one who even knows she was Bernie's long time controller. In five months, I haven't seen one reference to Cotellessa-Pitz in the press.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know Frank DiPascali claimed he was Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC chief financial officer on the resume he submitted to the Bridgewater school board. That was bullshit along with his claim that he was on the board of directors of Madoff Securities International, Limited, Bernie's London firm.
But Enrica Cotellessa-Pitz is the real deal. She is listed in Plunkett's as the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC controller. Unlike DiPascali, Pitz is a college graduate. St. John's University '80, according to a university alumni site. But she is not a licensed certified public accountant, according to New York records.
It's not like Bernie kept Cotellessa-Pitz in the closet. She was photographed by Traders Magazine with Craig and David Kugel and Robin Schwartz when she attended the STA of NY annual dinner in 2003.
Unlike DiPascali, Cotellessa-Pitz still lives in the neighborhood she grew up in. Ozone Park is just north of Howard Beach where DiPascali and Annette Bongiorno used to live and just west of Middle Village where Cohmad Securities broker, Rosalie Buccellato grew up.
Bernie must have liked Cotellessa-Pitz because he sponsored the Saints Joachim and Anne golf outing in June 2006. (Cotellessa-Pitz's sister is the national award-winning principal of the Queens Village elementary school.)
In September 2007, Cotellessa-Pitz's essay about Sister Marguerite Torre was published in the New York Daily News. Torre is a sister of former Yankee manager, Joe Torre and a much-liked principal of an elementary school in Ozone Park
What did Enrica Cotellessa-Pitz know about Bernie's business? Probably plenty.
Her signature is on checks from BMIS to Cohmad Securities representing commission payments. Copies of some of the checks are online at the Massachusetts secretary of state website (Exhibits 1-5, pps. 21-40).
More importantly, Enrica Cotellessa-Pitz was the liason between the SEC and Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC in connection with the BMIS financial statements.
Oddly enough, the BMIS balance sheets in PDF format do not appear to be online at the SEC website anymore or at least not in the same place they once were. Fortunately, I saved copies and if anyone needs them, please contact me.
Cotellessa-Pitz should have known where every number in those financial statements came from. If she did, she would have known that Bernie was cooking the books. My guess is she did know the financials were bogus and, if true, that makes Cotellessa-Pitz complicit in the fraud.
Something is wrong here. This is a pretty big deal and Enrica Cotellessa-Pitz should be under a spotlight but, instead, she remains virtually invisible in the media.
What does she know? Or should I ask who does she know? And does any of this have to do with the SEC disappearing the Madoff financials?
5/17/09 - Enrica Cotellessa-Pitz had to have known Dave Friehling didn't conduct audits. These so-called audited statements were furnished not only to the SEC but prospective customers. At the very least, Cotellessa-Pitz is guilty of fraud.
Why pick on poor Enrica?? What? Its not like she's driving a Bentley and its not like she's got a $1 million house in Boca, or a a $2million co-op in NYC.
Of course Bernie's Blog pointed out that she signed all of the checks...So what that she signed the checks! How would she know how much money was in the accounts? Was she supposed to balance the checking accounts too?
Hey--very considerate of you to point out Bernie's Blog. Its very infotaining and you're a real mensch! www.bernard-madoff-scam.blogspot.com
May 12, 2009 8:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Reading between the lines at I'm-Bernie-Madoff is one of my favorite things to do. I understand I'm in good company since I hear the Feds regularly visit your blog.
We don't know what Enrica Cotellessa-Pitz owns other than a house in Ozone Park and some property in South Carolina.
If Bernie's secretary, Eleanor Squillari, was pulling down $250k for setting up appointments, I imagine Cotellessa-Pitz was making a lot more money than Eleanor.
There is virtually no information available online about her husband, Thomas Pitz other than some links to Pitzes on Long Island.
A Dean Pitz owns a bar in Bellerose, Queens called the "Pitz Stop". It is registered with the NY SLA as Copitz Inc.
I've been wondering for awhile whether Dean is Enrica's son. A bar is a good way to launder money.
May 12, 2009 9:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
Duh.
After four months, I just realized Copitz probably stands for Cotellessa-Pitz. Dean Pitz, however, is more likely to be Thomas Pitz's brother than son, given that Copitz was first registered in 1993.
Dean Pitz also registered Vic-Kim, Inc. in NY in 1999.
May 12, 2009 2:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmm...Vic Kim Inc. was the owner of the Easy Street Cafe in Franklin Square, NY. But according to the NY SLA, the new owner's license application, filed on 5/9/2009, is pending approval.
Is someone busy selling assets? Why?
May 12, 2009 6:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oops! Filed on 5/1/2009, not 5/9/2009.
May 12, 2009 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe they (the NEW SEC and DOJ) consider her a potential star witness?
Is this some sort of unwritten and unspoken immunity deal?
It seems logical that anyone with a grain of sense who was privy to the underpinnings of Madoff's pyramid would have known without a shadow of a doubt that something was rotten in New Amsterdam.
So eliminating the possibility she was just an ignorant stooge, leaves one option, that she was a co-conspirator.
Not much room for any other logic.
May 12, 2009 10:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
There may very well be a deal but that doesn't explain why the press has kept quiet about Cotellessa-Pitz. I agree with you, I think she was in on the scheme.
May 12, 2009 11:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
A tiny speck of good news. This morning, MSNBC interrupted their continuous coverage of the Ms. California "suspense" to mention that many Madoff insiders made substantial withdraws in the weeks before Bernie's arrest. Why they would mention it today, since it has been known for quite some time, is curious.
I'm a novice to the Madoff scandal, but the more I learn, the more incredible it becomes that they are going to Enron this mess. Maybe there aren't enough beds in the federal penal system to hold everyone involved?
May 12, 2009 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
I can't find anything on the MSNBC website about Madoff insider withdrawals. I'm not sure what you mean by "it has been known for quite some time". I don't know what insiders you are referrring to.
May 12, 2009 11:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe I'm wrong, I thought this story had been around for a while.
Madoff Family Members Withdrew Heavily In Days Before Collapse
May 12, 2009 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
A tiny speck of good news. This morning, MSNBC interrupted their continuous coverage of the Ms. California "suspense" to mention that many Madoff insiders made substantial withdraws in the weeks before Bernie's arrest. Why they would mention it today, since it has been known for quite some time, is curious.
I'm a novice to the Madoff scandal, but the more I learn, the more incredible it becomes that they are going to Enron this mess. Maybe there aren't enough beds in the federal penal system to hold everyone involved?
May 12, 2009 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
How often does somebody's name tell us so much about that man and his entire family?
The Madoffs made off. ha
May 12, 2009 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have to say that I've been following the Madoff case on and off since it broke back in December. However, it seems to me that the names of the guilty parties have been thrown out to the public already. Weren't there close to 200 people who worked for the firm and 195 of them or so have not had their names spashed about leading me to believe they are innocent. Granted, Enrica Cotellessa-Pitz did hold a high position at Madoff, but I'm sure she was not the only one with a good title. Those people's names aren't out there either. Ever think that they are all truly innocent, and were just pawns in Bernie's crazy game as well? Frontline's episode last night depicted the power, control and manipulation he had over his feeder-funds, I wouldn't be surprised if that same power, control and manipulation extended into his employees as well.
May 13, 2009 3:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
BTW, Cotellessa-Pitz certainly knew David Friehling wasn't auditing BMIS. At the very least, she knowingly allowed fraudulent financial statements to be submitted to the SEC year after year. Cotellessa-Pitz was listed as the contact on all of the SEC transmittal sheets.
May 13, 2009 6:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Michael Bienes is a con artist and apparently he conned you as well. When Avellino & Bienes got in hot water for doing a audit that was characterized as fraudulent, they knew enough to hire top notch attorneys to appeal their case.
No one held a gun to Bienes's head and he had the resources to buy the best legal advice advice in the country. Now Bienes is now represented by Broad & Cassel, a high-powered Miami law firm.
I'm sure Frontline had to make a lot of concessions to get Bienes to agree to be interviewed. Apparently, one of the concessions was to let Bienes and his wife look like they are in straitened circumstances.
The shot of the two of them sitting on a little balcony with a plastic table was staged. If the Bieneses are living in an apartment, it is probably a condo in a high-rise around the corner from their 35k sq ft estate that they have owned for years.
Frontline never mentioned the Avellino & Bienes $40 million pension plan that has four participants, Avellino, Bienes & their respective wives. Based on the 5500s, it doesn't look the $40 mill was invested with Bernie.
Plus there was not one word about the real estate deals in Key West, Tampa, California and London that Dianne Bienes was involved in.
With respect to the Madoff employees, no one, as far as I know, has been deemed innocent by the DOJ and the investigation is ongoing. I think the latest news is that a lot of the employees and their relatives pulled a lot of money out of their Madoff accounts in the months before BMIS collapsed.
Enrica Cotelllessa-Pitz undoubtedly was paid a very high salary to represent BMIS in a financial capacity. (I heard Bernis's secretary pulled dwon $250k.) After reading about Bernie the Predator, I am sure he used Cotellessa-Pitz's goody-two-shoes Catholic school persona for his own benefit and apparently Cotellessa-Pitz let him.
As a former controller who has had to blow the whistle on the boss, I know how hard it is to do the right thing and I also know how nice it is to have a clear conscience.
Out of all of the employees, Cotellessa-Pitz was the one who had the power to stop Bernie in his tracks. She had the education, the credibility, the connections and the evidence. But instead of doing the right thing, Cotellessa-Pitz went for the money.
I hope she gets twenty years but she probably has the DOJ hoodwinked into believing she really is a nice Catholic girl who really didn't mean to hurt anybody.
May 13, 2009 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Officer Dibble (Top Cat's nemesis), Lt. Frank Dreblin (Police Squad) and Inspector Clouseau (to cover the international angles) would have broken this case wide open months ago. Tintin (the cartoon boy reporter) and Snowy (his dog) would have dug deeper and unearthed more facts than the mainstream media. Thank God for Mrs P. ! All the co-conspirators, accomplices and enablers have had months to cover their tracks. Have they been inconvenienced in any way at all by the authorities ? How have Cotellesa-Pitz and Bongiorno and diPascali actually been spending their time ? Is nobody interested ?
May 16, 2009 7:11 AM | Reply | Permalink