Wall Street Lawyers Doubt Madoff Bank Claims

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Several Wall Street lawyers doubt convicted Ponzi-schemer Bernard Madoff's argument that banks and hedge funds "knew or should have known" about his multi-billion dollar fraud.

"I think that man has absolutely no credibility. I wouldn't trust a word," said Ernie Patrikis, a partner with the New York law firm White & Case.

"I would think that any of the defendants in the trustee cases would love it if the he called Mr. Madoff as a witness. He won't, so to me it's nothing but filling white space in the press," said Robert Profusek, a partner at Jones Day explaining that the defense would have an interesting time convincing a courtroom to trust Madoff's word.

During his first interview since his arrest in December 2008, The New York Times, says that Madoff changed his stance that he was the only person involved in the fraud.

"I am saying that the banks and funds were complicit in one form or another," Madoff was quoted as saying in the interview.

The interview comes at a time when the trustee for Madoff investors, Irving Picard has filed hundreds of lawsuits seeking $100 billion in damages against several defendants including JPMorgan Chase(JPM) and the owners of the New York Mets.

At JPMorgan's investor conference on Tuesday Dimon addressed the litigation costs including charges involving Madoff. Dimon introduced legal counsel to read a statement during the conference, which stated that JPMorgan did not earn the fees alleged by Bernie Madoff Trustee, Irving Picard, and complied with all federal banking laws.

"We are actively engaged in the Madoff litigation. We believe the trustee has overreached and we did not participate in the fraud of Bernie Madoff," the statement said.

--Written by Maria Woehr in New York.

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