Peter Madoff, the brother of Ponzi fraudster Bernard Madoff,
is expected to plead guilty to criminal charges on Friday, the first family
member to do so since Madoff’s $65 billion fraud was exposed, Reuters reports.

In a letter filed yesterday in a Manhattan federal court, US Attorney Preet
Bharara said Peter Madoff is expected to plead guilty to charges of conspiracy
to commit securities fraud and other crimes, as well as falsifying records. He
agreed not to seek a sentence other than 10 years in prison.

Madoff, who had been chief compliance officer at Bernard L
Madoff Investment Securities, also agreed to a criminal forfeiture of about
$143.1 billion. This includes all real and personal property, the letter said.
The amount is symbolic, being more than twice the estimated size of the fraud.

The huge fraud has hit a number of financial institutions,
including those in the wealth management industry; the scandal has highlighted
the need for rigorous due diligence checks on investment managers’ due
diligence processes and the kind of claims that money managers make.

Prosecutors have not said whether criminal cases are also
being prepared against Bernard Madoff's son, Andrew, who was co-director of
trading, or his niece, Shana, who was a compliance officer at the firm. Both
are being sued by Irving Picard, the trustee seeking money for the Ponzi
scheme's victims. He has filed a $255 million lawsuit against them and other
Madoff family members.

Mark Madoff, another of Bernard Madoff's sons, committed
suicide in December 2010.

Earlier this week, this publication reported that plans to
distribute more recovered funds from Bernard Madoff’s fraud scheme can proceed,
after the US Supreme Court declined to review a legal challenge to the
trustee’s calculation of net equity.

According to the Reuters report, Peter Madoff is charged
with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and mail fraud as well
as making false statements about the firm's compliance program and investment
advisory business. A second charge accuses him of falsifying records of an
investment advisor.