Madoff Pleads Guilty With Possible 150 Years in Prison
The end is finally here for Bernie Madoff who pleaded guilty to all 11 counts he was charged with for his ponzi scheme. The final tally as far as the Madoff victims list is concerned seems to be around $65 Billion in total up from the $50 Madoff estimated himself.
From the Associated Press:
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.
He told the judge that he believed the fraud would be short-term and that he could extricate himself.
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 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.
The goal on Madoff’s end was to get off on just bail but that request was denied and Madoff was then ordered to jail. According the AP there was an applause in the courtroom after he was convicted.
Other notes include Madoff showing deep regret for his wrong doing. His apologies were not enough though to get him off the hook, too bad really. He will have much time to think things over behind bars as he spends the possible 150 year sentence in jail.
Source:
A ’sorry and ashamed’ Bernard Madoff pleads guilty
Larry Neumeister and Tom Hays, Associated Press Writers
Yahoo Finance, March 12th, 2009, 12:17 pm EDT
