he joined private banker walter noel to found fairfield greenwich group. >> fairfield greenwich started as a small-scale investment advisory business led by a gentleman, walter noel, who had a pretty good reputation on wall street. not just in us money circles, but in foreign money circles, as well. he attracted a partner who also had a... a good track record, jeffrey tucker. they joined forces and got fairfield greenwich up and going. >> smith: walter noel's assistant remembers how, at first, they struggled until they found madoff. >> jeffrey just told walter, "i've got this guy who's got really impressive returns." you know, "come meet him. let's look into it. maybe there's a product we can develop." once they created fairfield sentry to invest exclusively with madoff, that's when things really started to accelerate. >> smith: and what attracted them was not just madoff's steady returns, but an unusual fee arrangement. >> madoff didn't charge them any fees. he said, "i'm making all my money on trading through my market-making operation and commissions, and so i won't take any fees and