NEW YORK, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. financial investigators allege trader Bernard L. Madoff never invested his clients' money in stocks listed on account statements dating back to 1993.

The findings demolish the theory Madoff was an honest money manager driven to fraud by a volatile stock market, The New York Times reported Saturday.


The findings were delivered Friday by Iawyer Irving Picard, a court-appointed trustee whose team of investigators searched records dating to 1993 and found no evidence Madoff invested any of his clients' money in securities, the Times reported.

The pattern of alleged fraud probably stretches back even further, Irving told an emotional public meeting packed with angry creditors.

Investigators have a "pretty good idea" of how Madoff made his scheme work but they could not discuss it because of the continuing criminal investigation, Irving said.

Madoff was charged with securities fraud in December after allegedly confessing his business was a fraud whose losses could be as high as $50 billion. He remains under 24-hour house arrest in his New York City penthouse.