Hired out of high school in queens as madoff s secretary prosecutors say she personally handled the accounts of top madoff clients and helped run the secretive 17th floor where employees. Today the journal yanks up the blinds on bernie madoff s investment advisory business which was housed on the 17th floor of midtown manhattan s lipstick building. While a seemingly legitimate stockbroking business operated from the 18th and 19th floor madoff reserved the 17th floor for himself and a small group of employees.