BOSTON — Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff coached a potential witness about fooling federal regulators, saying "you don't have to be too brilliant" to get away with it, according to a newly released transcript of a 2005 telephone call.

The transcript was made public Wednesday by Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, whose office reached an $8 million settlement this week with New York-based Fairfield Greenwich Advisors, a Madoff feeder fund, to fully refund state investors.

During the call, Madoff is preparing someone from Fairfield who was about to be interviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission about the investment firm and its strategies. According to the transcript, Madoff began the call by saying, "Obviously, first of all, this call never took place."

During the call, "you basically have him coaching" the Fairfield employee, Galvin told The Associated Press late Wednesday. "And it's an admission that basically Madoff knew it was a scam and it's really how he conned the Securities and Exchange Commission," Galvin said.

The 71-year-old Madoff was sentenced in June to 150 years in prison for masterminding a multibillion-dollar scheme that spanned decades and defrauded thousands of investors.

The SEC's failure to uncover Madoff's massive scheme has led the agency to beef up enforcement efforts as it moves to restore investor confidence.