Madoff: 'Banks and funds knew what I was doing'

Convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff says investors "had to know" he was engaged in illegal activity, but failed to act on their hunches.

In his first public interview since his arrest in December 2008, Madoff told the New York Times: "The attitude was sort of, ‘If you're doing something wrong, we don't want to know'. Banks and funds were complicit in one form or another.

"I'm reading more now about how suspicious they were than I ever realized at the time," he said from the North Caroline jail where is facing a 150-year term.

His comments will fuel cases brought against financial institutions by Irving Picard, the trustee fighting to recover money for Madoff's victims.

Madoff said he had furnished Picard with "information I knew would be instrumental in recovering assets from those people complicit in the mess I put myself into.

"I am saying that the banks and funds were complicit in one form or another and my information to Picard when he was here established this," he told the NYT.

He said he would help federal prosecutors with information to recover assets but not to pursue criminal cases.

Madoff has maintained he was wholly responsible for the Ponzi scheme. In December one of his sons Mark committed suicide as he felt the pressure of suspicion of involvement was too great to bear.

Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence for running a Ponzi scheme which caught out investors including: UBP, Man Group, Bramdean Alternatives and a slew of Swiss private banks.

He admitted to fleecing investors of $65bn, though subsequent investigations suggested $17bn was nearer the true size.