Madoff being finally behind bars awaiting sentencing, investigators have turned much of their efforts to wrapping up the loose ends — identifying those who could have been involved in the $70 billion Ponzi scheme.

Many analysts suggest that the primary reason Madoff did not allow the case to go to trial was to keep his friends and family away from the public eye, particularly that eye which may identify any involvement they may have had in the crime.

Among the loose ends: how to distribute the funds, a comprehensive understanding of how the fraud occurred, reconciliation of a number of conflicting statements made by Madoff and others, and importantly, how to handle the Securities and Exchange Commission’s failure to catch the incident.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has been forced to respond to the issue a number of times, claiming there’s an internal affairs investigation which has not returned any leads, and the simple reason Madoff slipped away was underfunding. With a number of detailed reports by important industry officials to the Commission over the year, some analysts find this hard to believe.

Additionally, Madoff told the judge that the remaining business engaged in by Madoff Investment Securities was entirely legitimate, profitable and successful. The firm is a well-known market maker firm, who engages in trading both the buy and sell side of financial instruments — scraping profits off the spread.

However, Attorney Marc Litt for the prosecution said the judge that, “at times, his firm would have been unable to operate but for the cash generated from this Ponzi scheme.”

“Just to produce the reams of documents that were received and the elaborate data that went into them must have required an army of people to produce, and we all know that Madoff wasn’t around a lot at his operation,” said a victim of the Ponzi scheme to the judge, making the case that Madoff did not go at the scam alone; Madoff, however, implicated no one but himself, saying he was very sorry for what he had done in a soft, well-spoken tone, saying that he wished every day he could escape from the mess the Ponzi scheme had made of his life — but knowing that it was a hole he had to keep digging deeper.

Allegedly, authorities have only recovered $1 billion of the funds thus far, funds which they say should still exist quite significantly; for despite Madoff holding over $60 billion in assets, much of that would have been taken in false profits and misdirection by the firm.

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