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(AP) - The Securities and Exchange Commission on
Monday announced an agreement with disgraced money manager Bernard
Madoff that could eventually force him to pay a civil fine and
return money raised from investors.


      The partial judgment must be approved by the judge overseeing
the Madoff case in federal court in Manhattan.


      The civil proceeding is separate from the criminal case against
the prominent Wall Street figure, who is accused of bilking $50
billion from investors in what may be the largest Ponzi scheme in
history. 

Madoff was arrested in December after allegedly confessing
to his sons that he had stolen from investors for years.


      Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to revoke the bail of
Madoff, who has been confined to his Manhattan penthouse under
house arrest. Madoff, who has not been indicted, is widely expected
to eventually enter into a criminal plea deal with prosecutors.


      The agreement with the SEC says the agency's civil fraud
allegations cannot be contested by Madoff and that possible civil
fines and restitution will be decided "at a later time."


      The allegations, as laid out in the SEC's civil lawsuit filed on
Dec. 11, are that Madoff committed a $50 billion fraud and told his
sons his investment business was a sham. 


Madoff told them he had
"absolutely nothing," that "it's all just one big lie," and was
"basically, a giant Ponzi scheme," according to the SEC suit.


      The fallout from the Madoff affair has been massive and has
rocked a Wall Street already churning from the financial crisis.


Thousands of victims who lost money investing with Madoff have been
identified - including ordinary people and Hollywood celebrities -
as well as big hedge funds, international banks and charities in
the U.S., Europe and Asia.


      The scandal also has brought disgrace to the SEC, which
repeatedly ignored credible allegations about Madoff's operations
brought to it over the course of decade. 


Congress and the agency's
inspector general are investigating what caused the regulatory
failure over Madoff and why SEC inspections of his business failed
to detect the improprieties.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission on
Monday announced an agreement with disgraced money manager Bernard
Madoff that could eventually force him to pay a civil fine and
return money raised from investors.

Bernard L. Madoff leaves U.S. Federal Court

SEC, Madoff agree to settle civil fraud case

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