Since early this year, a basic assumption about Bernard L. Madoff’s enormous Ponzi scheme was that the trades shown in his clients’ account statements were fictional — created out of thin air by a key Madoff aide, Frank DiPascali Jr.

That is not quite true, according to the trustee liquidating Mr. Madoff’s assets for the benefit of his victims.

According to a court document filed late on Friday, other longtime Madoff employees were in charge of managing 245 accounts for Madoff friends and family, and for them at least a few of the reported trades actually occurred. The individuals were not named in the document.

These details, in a civil brief filed with the federal bankruptcy judge overseeing the Madoff case, expand what is known publicly about the inner workings of the fraud and raise new accusations about how many people were involved.

The trustee, Irving H. Picard, citing his own findings, asserted that 245 of the almost 5,000 active Madoff accounts were directly managed by other Madoff staff members, not by Mr. DiPascali.

Read the full story here on the New York Times website.