41 replies to this topic

[Bandita]

http://www.nytimes.c...s/30madoff.html

Madoff Sentenced to 150 Years in Prison for Ponzi Scheme

federal judge sentenced Bernard L. Madoff to 150 years in prison on Monday for operating a huge Ponzi scheme that devastated thousands of people, calling his crimes “extraordinarily evil.”

In pronouncing the sentence — the maximum he could have handed down — Judge Denny Chin turned aside Mr. Madoff’s own assertions of remorse and rejected the suggestion from Mr. Madoff’s lawyers that there was a sense of “mob vengeance” surrounding calls for a long prison term.

“Objectively speaking, the fraud here was staggering,” the judge said. “It spanned more than 20 years.”

After victims told a packed courtroom that he should be shown no mercy in the case, Mr. Madoff stood up from the defense table to acknowledge the damage he had inflicted and expressed regret.

“I’m responsible for a great deal of suffering and pain, I understand that,” Mr. Madoff told the court. “I live in a tormented state now, knowing all of the pain and suffering that I’ve created. I’ve left a legacy of shame, as some of my victims have pointed out, to my family and my grandchildren.”

Addressing his victims seated in the courtroom, he said: “I will turn and face you. I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t help you.”

Prosecutors said that Mr. Madoff deserved the maximum sentence — representing a life sentence and more for the disgraced 71-year-old financier — for perpetrating one of the biggest investment frauds in Wall Street history. Mr. Madoff’s own lawyers said he should receive only 12 years, a sentence that would offer him the chance to walk out of prison at age 83.

Mr. Madoff wore a dark suit, white shirt and a tie and sat at a polished wood table, surrounded by his lawyers. Prosecutors sat opposite them, and the viewing gallery was crowded with onlookers.

The hearing opened shortly after 10 a.m. with statements from victims of the Madoff scheme, which took in some $65 billion before it collapsed. Mr. Madoff’s victims stood up and told wrenching stories of how they had lost everything in his scheme, and were now working several jobs and living hand-to-mouth. They fought through tears, connected Mr. Madoff to villains from Dante’s Inferno, spoke of their feelings of betrayal and mistrust, and described how their families had lost money that would have gone to caring for disabled relatives.

“How could someone do this to us?” said Dominic Ambrosino, a retired New York City corrections officer who said he lost his life savings with Mr. Madoff and was the first victim to speak. “We worked honestly and so hard.”

Another victim, Sharon Lissauer, who said she invested all of her savings with Mr. Madoff, told the court: “He should spend his whole life in jail. He’s ruined so many people’s lives. He killed my spirit and shattered my dreams.”

After Mr. Madoff’s victims finished speaking, his lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, stood up and said the government’s request for a 150-year sentence bordered on absurd. He called Mr. Madoff a “deeply flawed individual,” but a human being nonetheless.

“Vengeance is not the goal of punishment,” Mr. Sorkin said.

Still, Mr. Sorkin added that Mr. Madoff expects to “live out his years in prison.”

But in meting out the maximum sentence, Judge Chin pointed out that no friends, family or other supporters had submitted any letters on Mr. Madoff’s behalf, attesting to the strength of his character or good deeds he had done.The hearing on Monday marked a climactic moment in the criminal case against Mr. Madoff, whose name has become synonymous with greed and fraud on Wall Street. Dozens of photographers and television camera crews from New York to Britain to China waited outside the federal district courthouse on Pearl Street as reporters, legal teams and Mr. Madoff’s victims filed toward the courtroom where Mr. Madoff will be sentenced.

“We’re hoping for a big sentence only as a deterrent,” Cynthia Friedman, who said she lost her life savings with Mr. Madoff, said outside the courtroom. “He can’t hurt us anymore.”

It was a scene reminiscent of the morning in March when Mr. Madoff walked into the same courthouse with his lawyers and pleaded guilty to a series of counts of fraud, theft and perjury. This time, however, Mr. Madoff was brought to court from his jail cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan.

Mr. Madoff’s case was playing out amid a tangle of lawsuits, criminal and civil investigations, and competing claims for restitution prompted by revelations of the outsize fraud at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities.

It will be at least another three months before the judge makes a decision on repaying the victims. Prosecutors requested more time to sift through Mr. Madoff’s records to determine how much was lost and how many people are owed.

Mr. Madoff’s accountant, David G. Friehling, was charged with securities fraud in March, and is so far the only other person to face criminal charges connected to the Ponzi scheme. A New York financier whose clients lost $2 billion with Mr. Madoff has been charged with fraud and deception in a civil suit by the New York State attorney general.

The inspector general of the Securities and Exchange Commission is examining how regulators failed for years to catch Mr. Madoff. Investment funds that channeled money to Mr. Madoff have been sued, and two have agreed to return millions they withdrew before Mr. Madoff’s December arrest.

Mr. Madoff will most likely return to his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center as federal prison officials determine where he will serve his sentence.

For decades, Mr. Madoff built his reputation — and his client base — on the promise of healthy returns that flowed in as reliably as the tides. Big hedge funds and notables like Elie Wiesel and Sandy Koufax entrusted their money to Mr. Madoff’s investment business, but so did hundreds of retirees and smaller investors.

But the reliable returns and monthly investment statements simply masked a Ponzi scheme that attracted new money to pay existing investors and finance his operating costs.

When the cash ran out, the illusion imploded.

Zachery Kouwe and Diana B. Henriques contributed reporting.

[Mr. Roboto]

Sounds good to me.

[cousin it]

I find something inherently wrong with a justice system in which a man, convicted of a white collar crime, receives about the same amount of time as someone convicted of torturing and killing 10 people???

150 years was excessive. It is disproportional to what similar criminals receive, and the sentence will probably be overturned on appeal.

The judge could have given the guy 25 years, and the result would have been the same, i.e., life without parole. It would have been more just, and not left the sentence open to appeal.

[AxlsMainMan]

I think people are sick of these Enron wannabe fucks getting off lightly, and the judge felt an example needed to be set given the extraordinary evil inherent in his crimes.

[cousin it]

I think that the judge let emotion get the better of him. Denis Raeder was evil; Madoff was a thief. How many other perpetrators of white collar crime have received similar sentences? I don't know of any. Justice has to be proportional, and equal. When emotion is allowed to dictate sentences, justice becomes little more than court sanctioned mob rule.

[AxlsMainMan]

That's true. 25 years probably would have been enough since the dude will probably croak from stress before he even serves a day.

[Mr. Roboto]

He threw the book at him, the guy ruined countless lives. I think a clear message was sent. Especially considering the attention it got. If he had given him 25 years they would have been calling for that judge's head. The real assholes here are the SEC, who were notified years prior.

[Bandita]

I just saw the documentary about the guy who kept reporting him over and over to the SEC....what a story...

[Mr. Roboto]

Yup and they did a whole lotta nuthin'. Kinda reminds me of the failure of the security rating firms like Moodys who gave AAA ratings to the sub prime loans repackaged as "safe investments" on Wall Street.

[Bandita]

If he didn't get the maximum sentence that poor judge would have been thrown to the wolves. An example needed to be set for others contemplating a scheme such as this. Sure he didn't KILL anyone but he took away lives and futures that may or may not be able to be rebuilt. Countless lives, pension funds, Jewish charities wiped out.... Since when did white collar crime become less evil than regular old crime?

[AxlsMainMan]

I'm pretty sure this guy defrauded a shitload of charities too.

[Bandita]

He did:

http://www.businessi...e-official-list

(BTW, the document is 162 pages long)

http://s.wsj.net/pub...s_20081215.html

(that one has a nice map that shows victims by state and a list of the big losses at the bottom)

[AxlsMainMan]

Dude thought he only deserved 12 years, and got 150.

[Mr. Roboto]

I like how his wife is playing dumb. Yea sure she never knew a fucking thing. Please.

[AxlsMainMan]

Must be a good lay since Bernie ain't talkin'.