Madoff associates knew about the scam, investigator says

(CNN) - Associates of convicted Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff knew he was scamming his clients but joined in anyway because of the big money they could make, a securities investigator testified in a sworn affidavit for a Connecticut court.

A Connecticut judge on Tuesday froze the funds of Madoff and several of his business associates as part of a lawsuit filed for members of a city's retirement fund who say they invested with companies linked to Madoff.

The order came as testimony in an affidavit by investigator Edward H. Seidle said that Madoff's associates - specifically the so-called "feeder funds" that handled money for Fairfield, Connecticut's retirement plan - should have known that he was cheating his clients.

"It is my opinion, for the reasons stated below, that [the funds and their principals] were all aware that Bernard L. Madoff was engaging in illegal conduct in connection with his purported money management operations and intentionally chose to participate and support Madoff's illegal conduct in order to reap enormous illicit financial benefits," he wrote.