Kevin McCoy

USA TODAY

NEW YORK — Bernard Madoff's longtime assistant and one of his former computer programmers were sentenced to prison terms Tuesday for their roles in helping the Ponzi scheme mastermind steal as much as $20 billion from investors.

Annette Bongiorno, 66, who became a multimillionaire by obeying the boss she idolized, was sentenced to a six-year term for what U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain called her decision to obey her boss's instructions rather than recognize the fraud that happened "right in front of her."

The sentence was lower than the more than 20-year term sought by prosecutors — and even fell below the eight-to-ten-years recommended by her defense lawyer. In part,Taylor Swain cited health factors and Bongiorno's sub-five-foot stature for the decision.

The judge held the Manhasset, N.Y., resident jointly liable with Madoff and other conspirators for nearly $155.2 billion in forfeitures, representing the cumulative amounts taken in one of history's largest financial frauds.

Jerome O'Hara, 51, who worked on computer programs for Madoff's bogus investment advisory business, was sentenced to 2½ years in prison. The judge said his actions "kept in place the essential backbone of the infrastructure" that perpetuated the fraud.

Taylor Swain held the Malverne, N.Y., father of three jointly liable with other conspirators for $19.7 billion in forfeitures.

Bongiorno and O'Hara were the second and third of five former Madoff staffers convicted in March on conspiracy and fraud charges to receive prison sentences.

A Manhattan federal jury convicted the five on charges they knowingly helped Madoff fabricate and backdate financial records and purported stock trades to fool investment clients, auditors, regulators and investigators. The scam proceeds bankrolled a life of luxury and riches for the co-workers, trial evidence showed.

The scam collapsed in December 2008, nearly six years to the day of this week's sentencings. Madoff pleaded guilty the following year without standing trial. He's serving a 150-year prison term.

Along with imposing the penalties, Taylor Swain denied bail for Bongiorno, pending a potential appeal of the verdict. The judge ordered her to surrender Feb. 19 and agreed to recommend confinement in a low-security facility in Sumterville, Fla.

The judge postponed a decision on the similar bail issue for O'Hara until Wednesday, when George Perez, another former Madoff computer programmer convicted in the fraud, is scheduled to be sentenced.

Taylor Swain described Bongiorno as someone who was "not fundamentally corrupt" and was dazzled by Madoff because she had just "borderline competence" for the complex financial work she carried out. Ruling that Bongiorno should have realized Madoff was running a fraud as far back as 1992, the judge concluded she was "a knowing and willing participant who made a choice to participate."

Bongiorno choked back tears as she read a statement addressing the thousands of Madoff scam victims whose dreams and financial security were damaged or destroyed. She stressed "how very sorry I am by all the sorrow and loss caused by Madoff and by extension, by me."

"I did not know what was happening. I didn't mean to hurt you," Bongiorno said.

Taylor Swain said O'Hara's role was more limited than that of some other conspirators because he joined Madoff's firm later and inherited a computer system designed by others. "He is not a morally bankrupt conniver who set out to bankrupt anyone," the judge said.

Taylor Swain ruled that evidence showed O'Hara should have recognized the fraud by 2006, yet "spent the better part of three years" continuing to work on computer programs that harmed Madoff investors.

O'Hara referred to the scam victims while his relatives and friends sat silently behind him in support. "The deep pain and suffering they have endured I would wish on no man and no woman," he said.

Daniel Bonventre, Madoff's former operations manager, was sentenced to a 10-year prison term Monday and held jointly liable for more than $155 billion in forfeiture. JoAnn Crupi, who oversaw the Madoff business's main bank account is scheduled to be sentenced next Monday.