Guilty plea from Madoff associate postponed

An expected guilty plea from an ex-controller of Bernie Madoff's investment company was postponed on Thursday because the former executive, Irwin Lipkin, was hospitalized with an "emergency medical condition."

Lipkin, who worked for Madoff during the 1990s, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and making false statements, according to prosecutors. But in a letter filed in Manhattan federal court, Lipkin's lawyer asked for a delay because his client was taken to a New Jersey hospital Tuesday night with a kidney problem.

Judge Laura Taylor Swain granted the delay to an unspecified date on Thursday morning.

Lipkin, hired in 1964, was one of Ponzi fraudster Madoff's first employees, and would be the ninth former employee to plead guilty to criminal charges. His son, Eric, previously pleaded guilty to falsifying documents.