Investor being probed in Madoff connection

NEW YORK — A criminal probe of a prominent California investment manager parallels a civil investigation that concluded he fed nearly $1 billion of investor money to Bernard Madoff, earning a quarter billion dollars in fees along the way, prosecutors said Friday.

Prosecutors filed papers with a judge in U.S. District Court in Manhattan asking that the civil case brought against investment adviser Stanley Chais by the Securities and Exchange Commission be delayed six months while they determine whether to bring criminal charges.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Stellmach wrote that a criminal probe was looking at "very similar conduct" to what the SEC found when it concluded that Chais falsely told investors he was personally managing money in three funds when he just turned it over to Madoff.