Forensic accountants on hunt for Madoff's billions

Forensic accounting teams are preparing to scrutinise the books at Bernard Madoff Investment Securities in an effort to trace the $50bn which has allegedly disappeared in what has been touted as Wall Street's greatest swindle.

The aim of the group is to uncover assets whcih can eventually be returned to investor victoms, The Christian Science Monitor reports.

'They will be looking for records, fake invoices, cooked books, red flags, anything that doesn't make sense,' Larry Crumbley, the KPMG-endowed professor of accounting at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, said. 'They will just be following the computer and paper trail, rather than the DNA.'

'I would be surprised if we don't find [Madoff] has money someplace other than the US, since he took trips overseas on a regular basis,' Ken Yormark, managing director and forensic accountant at New York-consultants LECG, said.

Further reading:

BDO Seidman caught up in Madoff scandal

Read The Christian Science Monitor story