The stepson of a former Bernie Madoff crony routinely took naps under his desk while working for the Ponzi villain because he was crashing from a nasty cocaine habit, a lawyer alleged in Manhattan federal court on Thursday.
Erica Cotellessa-Pitz, a former Madoff honcho-turned-key-government-witness, was asked by a lawyer for ex-operations chief Daniel Bonventre if she knew that Bonventre’s stepson Jeffrey Ferraro “had become addicted to cocaine.”
Lawyer Andrew Frisch also asked if she knew that Bonventre — one of five ex-Madoff staffers on trial — “stepped in and tried to correct” Ferraro’s problem.
For both questions, Cotellessa-Pitz answered she “did not know.”
The revealing of family secrets by Bonventre’s own lawyer came a day after Cotellessa-Pitz, while being questioned by prosecutors, painted Ferraro as another George Constanza from “Seinfeld” – but without addressing the cause of his sleep habits.
“[Ferraro] would sleep during the day,” she said “He would sleep by his desk, under his desk. It was going on for years.”
She also said other co-workers complained about Ferraro’s work-time siestas.
“He was unable to do his work in a timely fashion,” she said. “A lot of employees saw him sleeping. There were a lot of comments made about it.”
Cotellessa-Pitz — a government witness who copped a plea to falsifying company records and making bogus submissions to government regulators – claims she was unaware Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme and was “duped” by the con-man.