Do accountants owe a fiduciary duty to their clients?

Steven Leber (Leber) was the trustee of the Steven E. Leber Charitable Remainder Unitrust (Trust) which, at its peak, had assets of $4 million. The defendant, Paul Konigsberg (Konigsberg), was a certified public accountant and the named partner of Konigsberg Wolf &Co., P.C. (the firm).
Leber invested all of the Trust’s assets with Bernard Madoff (Madoff), who, it turns out, was running a $65 billion Ponzi scheme.8 Ultimately, Madoff’s sons revealed the fraud, and investors around the world learned that all of their investments were gone. [A trustee has been appointed to recover assets, but that process will be long and the results uncertain.]
Leber alleges that he made this disastrous investment on the advice of Konisberg, who not only recommended Mad off but promised that hewould personally supervise, monitor, and provide due diligence for the Trust’s account withMadoff. Leber filed suit against Konigsberg and the firm on the grounds that they breached their fiduciary duty to him and the Trust. He sought payment of $4 million. Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, alleging that accountants do not owe their clients a fiduciary duty.