Two computer programmers who worked for Bernard Madoff were arrested today for assisting the 71-year-old frauster's $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

Jerome O'Hara and George Perez face criminal charges of conspiracy, falsifying books and records of a broker dealer and falsifying books and records of an investment adviser.

Preet Bharara, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, alleges that the two men, who worked for Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities from the early 1990s, created computer programs that were filled with false information such as incorrect client names, trading details and accounts.

The false programs were used by Madoff to deceive the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and an unnamed European accounting firm during at least five reviews of his Manhattan firm, Mr Bharara alleged.

The SEC has been castigated in the US for failing to uncover the 20-year fraud, despite numerous investigations into Madoff's activities.

The criminal complaint issued by the attorney today said: "O'Hara and Perez allegedly knew that the special programs they developed contained fraudulent information and that they were used in connection with the SEC and European accounting firm reviews."

In late 2006 the two computer programmers met with Madoff and told the swindler that they would not continue to lie for him, the attorney said. As a result, Madoff gave the men a 25 per cent pay rise and a bonus of $60,000 each.

If convicted, Mr O'Hara, a 46-year-old New Yorker, and Mr Perez, a 43-year-old from New Jersey, face 30 years in prison.

Madoff is serving 150 years in Butner Federal Correctional Center in North Carolina for perpetrating the world's largest investment scam.

Tomorrow, Madoff and his wife, Ruth, will see a lifetime of their valuables auctioned in New York to raise money for victims of his Ponzi scheme.

Among the possessions is a Rolex Monoblocco, a vintage timepiece also known as the Prisoner’s Watch, because Hans Wilsdorf, Rolex’s owner, sold the watches on credit to British prisoners of war during the Second World War, allowing them to pay when the war was over.

The Monoblocco is expected to fetch as much as $87,500, while Mrs Madoff’s antique diamond earings could reach $21,400, according to estimates by Gaston & Sheehan, the Texan auctioneers running the sale at the New York Sheraton.

Buyers with less cash but a hankering for a piece of Wall Street history could snap up a set of Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities stationery, including personalised Post-it Notes, for between $90 and $100.

A set of three T-shirts with the insignia of Madoff’s yacht, Bull, is expected to go for $150 to $210.

A spokeswoman for Gaston & Sheehan said that the auctioneers expected a full house at the Sheraton, where about 75 lots will be disposed of each hour. “We’ve had a lot of interest in the auction and it’s very widespread, across all the goods,” she said.

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