US: Madoff talks in court about his crimes
13 Mar 2009 1:58 AM
NEW YORK, March 12 AP - Bernard Madoff has pleaded guilty to charges that he carried out an epic fraud that robbed investors around the world of billions of dollars, admitting he began operating a giant pyramid scheme in the early 1990s in response to a recession.
"I am actually grateful for this opportunity to publicly comment about my crimes, for which I am deeply sorry and ashamed," he told US District Judge Denny Chin.
He said that he started the fraud but that he believed it would be short and he could extricate himself.
"As the years went by, I realised my risk, and this day would inevitably come," he said in a steady voice. "I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for my crimes."
The fraud turned a revered money man into an overnight global disgrace whose name became synonymous with the current economic meltdown.
Madoff described his crimes after he entered a guilty plea to all 11 counts he was charged with, including fraud, perjury, theft from an employee benefit plan, and two counts of international money laundering.
Prosecutors say the disgraced financier, who has spent three months under house arrest in his $7 million in Manhattan penthouse, could face a maximum sentence of 150 years in prison at sentencing.
The plea came three months after the FBI claimed Madoff admitted to his sons that his once-revered investment fund was all a big lie - a Ponzi, or pyramid, scheme that was in the billions of dollars. Since his arrest in December, the scandal has turned the 70-year-old former Nasdaq chairman into a pariah who has worn a bulletproof vest to court.
The scheme evaporated life fortunes, wiped out charities and apparently pushed at least two investors to commit suicide. Victims big and small were swindled by Madoff, from elderly Florida retirees to actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.
