In October, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York summoned over 400 jurors in an effort to find 12 jurors and six alternates to hear the criminal allegations against five former associates of Bernard Madoff. Jurors were told that the case was expected to last more than five months, which would make it the longest trial in the history of the Southern District. Even that prediction turned out to be conservative, however, as it took until yesterday--after a record six full months of trial--for the case to be sent to the jury for deliberations.

According to the WSJ, the jury hearing this case alleging that the defendants engaged in crimes including conspiracy, fraud and falsifying records connected to the Madoff scandal "has the distinction of sitting on what is likely the longest white-collar criminal trial in the history of Manhattan federal court." Opening statements in the case got underway on October 16, 2013, and over 25 hours of closing arguments and rebuttals finally wrapped up last week. 

The WSJ reports that the only other criminal trial in SDNY history that comes close to this trial in terms of length was the 2004 prosecution of Adelphia Communications Corp. founder John Rigas and his son, Timothy, in 2004. Both men were convicted in that case after a five-month trial.

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