Act I Is Over

Act I: Bernard Madoff is largely over.

Act II: The Accomplices is just getting started.

NEW YORK -- Bernard Madoff's longtime accountant was arrested on fraud charges Wednesday, accused of aiding the man who has admitted cheating thousands of investors out of billions of dollars in the past two decades.

The charges against David Friehling, 49, come as federal authorities turn their attention to those who they believe helped Madoff fool 4,800 investors into thinking that their longtime investments were growing comfortably each year. Friehling is the first person to be arrested since the Madoff scandal broke three months ago.

Let's hope Act II is long and satisfying. Personally, I'm betting on some close family members playing a role in this one. I've always been suspicious of the Madoff sons, for instance, who all to conveniently were the ones to turn their father in to the authorities once it became apparent that the Ponzi scheme he was running was on the verge of collapse. Why didn't Madoff himself go to authorities once he knew the jig was up? Was he merely trying to provide cover for them by instructing them to seemingly rat him out?