The computer programmers, Jerome O’Hara of Malverne and George Perez of East Brunswick, N.J., were arrested at dawn yesterday at their homes on charges including conspiracy and falsifying records.
Both were released on $1 million bond after a brief hearing in federal court in Manhattan. Their attorneys had no comment.
“Without the help of O’Hara and Perez, the Madoff fraud would not have been possible,’’ George S. Canellos, director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s New York Regional Office, said in a statement.
The SEC brought similar charges against the men yesterday in a parallel civil complaint.
O’Hara and Perez were hired by Madoff’s firm in the early 1990s to develop and maintain programs using a computer known as “House 17.’’
The programs allowed Madoff to generate account statements for thousands of clients “that purported to confirm the purchases of securities that, in fact, had not been purchased,’’ the complaint said.
Also yesterday, Texas-based auctioneer Gaston & Sheehan, working for the Marshals Service, prepared for today’s auction of Bernard and Ruth Madoff’s possessions.
Almost 200 items seized from the fallen financier’s homes are being sold in Manhattan, ranging from dishes, pens, and stationery to decoy ducks, furs, and a Rolex.
