A second-generation employee of Bernard Madoff who was one of the earliest government cooperators after the massive Ponzi scheme was revealed has been sentenced to nine months of home detention.

Eric Lipkin was sentenced Wednesday in New York City. Lipkin had pleaded guilty to falsifying financial records and other crimes during his 16 years with Madoff’s secretive investment advisory business.

Lipkin was also ordered to forfeit $1.4 million. A court-appointed trustee recovering money for Madoff investors had labeled Lipkin part of Madoff’s “inner circle.” In court papers, the trustee said he profited handsomely from a fraud that cheated thousands of investors out of about $20 billion.

Lipkin followed his father into the company in 1992. Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence after revealing the fraud in December 2008.

(AP)