Jury selection started in the trial of five ex-employees of Bernard Madoff, including his former personal secretary and two computer programmers accused of helping carry out the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who said that the criminal trial could last five months, interviewed a group of about 300 potential jurors yesterday who had completed questionnaires last week. The trial, slated to start on Monday, was delayed a day by Swain without explanation, according to the case’s online court docket. Once the jurors are selected, prosecutors will begin opening arguments.
