Five former members of Bernard L. Madoff’s inner circle told a “staggering” number of lies to prop up their boss’ $17.5 billion Ponzi scheme, a prosecutor said during closing arguments in their criminal trial.

“Day after day, year after year, these defendants told an avalanche of different lies that allowed Madoff to steal billions from investors,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Zach told jurors in Manhattan federal court. They each “made the fraud possible in their own way.”