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Madoff's Former Secretary Seeks Early Prison Release

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - A lawyer for the former secretary for imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff is asking that she be released from prison in March.

Attorney Roland Riopelle says 70-year-old Annette Bongiorno will have served two thirds of her six-year prison term by March 19 and should be released then.

He cited a law signed by President Donald Trump last week permitting judges to order some prisoners released to home confinement after serving two-thirds of a sentence.

He says her advanced age makes her eligible.

Bongiorno was among five Madoff employees convicted for their roles in a scheme that cost thousands of investors about $20 billion. She was sentenced in 2014.

Bongiorno maintained she was unaware of history's biggest Ponzi scheme.

Madoff is serving 150 years in prison.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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