US: Bernard Madoff gets maximum 150 years in prison
By Tom Hays And Larry Neumeister30 Jun 2009 2:28 AM
NEW YORK, June 29 AP - Convicted swindler Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison on Monday for fraud so extensive that the judge said he needed to send a symbolic message to those who might imitate his fraud and to victims who need relief.
Applause broke out in the crowded Manhattan courtroom after US District Judge Denny Chin issued the maximum sentence to the 71-year-old defendant, who said he sought no forgiveness and knew he must live "with this pain, this torment, for the rest of my life".
Chin rejected a request by Madoff's lawyer for leniency and said he disagreed that victims of the fraud were seeking mob vengeance.
"Here the message must be sent that Mr Madoff's crimes were extraordinarily evil and that this kind of manipulation of the system is not just a bloodless crime that takes place on paper, but one instead that takes a staggering toll," Chin said.
The judge said the estimate that Madoff has cost his victims more than $US13 billion ($A16.12 billion) was conservative because it did not include money from feeder funds.
"Objectively speaking, the fraud here was staggering," he said.
Before Chin announced the sentence, Madoff, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and a tie, sat and listened as emotional witnesses described how he spoiled their security.
"Life has been a living hell. It feels like the nightmare we can't wake from," said Carla Hirshhorn.
"He stole from the rich. He stole from the poor. He stole from the in between. He had no values," said Tom Fitzmaurice. "He cheated his victims out of their money so he and his wife Ruth could live a life of luxury beyond belief."
Dominic Ambrosino called it an "indescribably heinous crime" and urged a long prison sentence so "will know he is imprisoned in much the same way he imprisoned us and others".
He added: "In a sense, I would like somebody in the court today to tell me how long is my sentence."
"The sheer scale of the fraud calls for severe punishment," the prosecutors wrote.
The jailed Madoff already has taken a severe financial hit: Last week, a judge issued a preliminary $US171 billion ($A212.01 billion) forfeiture order stripping Madoff of all his personal property, including real estate, investments, and $US80 million ($A99.19 million) in assets his wife Ruth had claimed were hers. The order left her with $US2.5 million ($A3.1 million).
The terms require the Madoffs to sell a $US7 million ($A8.68 million) Manhattan apartment where Ruth Madoff still lives. An $US11 million ($A13.64 million) estate in Palm Beach, Florida, a $US4 million ($A4.96 million) home in Montauk and a $US2.2 million ($A2.73 million) boat will be put on the market as well.
Before Madoff became a symbol of Wall Street greed, he had earned a reputation as a trusted money manager with a Midas touch. Even as the market fluctuated, clients of his secretive investment advisory business - from Florida retirees to celebrities such as Steven Spielberg, actor Kevin Bacon and Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax - for decades enjoyed steady double-digit returns.
But late last year, Madoff made a dramatic confession: Authorities say he pulled his sons aside and told them it was "all just one big lie".
Madoff pleaded guilty in March to securities fraud and other charges, saying he was "deeply sorry and ashamed". He insisted that he acted alone, describing a separate wholesale stock-trading firm run by his sons and brother as honest and legitimate.
Aside from an accountant accused of cooking Madoff's books, no one else has been criminally charged. But the family, including his wife, and brokerage firms who recruited investors have come under intense scrutiny by the FBI, regulators and a court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff's assets.
The trustee and prosecutors have sought to go after assets to compensate thousands of burned victims who have filed claims against Madoff. How much is available to pay them remains unknown, though it's expected to be only a fraction of the astronomical losses associated with the fraud.
The $US171 billion ($A212.01 billion) forfeiture figure used by prosecutors merely mirrors the amount they estimate that, over decades, "flowed into the principal account to perpetrate the Ponzi scheme". The statements sent to investors showing their accounts were worth as much as $US65 billion ($A80.59 billion) were fiction.
The investigation has found that in reality, Madoff never made any investments, instead using the money from new investors to pay returns to existing clients - and to finance a lavish lifestyle for his family.
In bankruptcy filings, Trustee Irving Picard say family members "used customers accounts as though they were their own", putting Madoff's maid, boat captain and house-sitter in Florida on the company payroll and paying nearly $US1 million ($A1.24 million) in fees at high-end golf clubs on Long Island and in Florida.
Picard has sought to reclaim ill-gotten gains by freezing Madoff's business bank accounts and selling legitimate portions of his firm. (Its season tickets for the Mets went for $US38,100 ($A47,238). He's also sued big money managers and investors for billions of dollars, claiming they were Madoff cronies who also cashed in on the fraud.
The defendants include leading philanthropists Stanley Chais and Jeffry Picower - from whom Picard is seeking at least $US5.1 billion ($A6.32 billion) alleged to have come out of victims' pockets - and hedge fund manager J. Ezra Merkin. All have denied any wrongdoing.
