Monday June 29, 05:18 PM
Wall St. swindler Madoff jailed for 150 years
By Gerry Aziakou and Amandine Ambregni
NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff was jailed for 150 years Monday, dealt the maximum sentence for his multi-billion dollar scam that ruined Hollywood clients and middle-class pensioners alike.
"It is the judgment of this court that Bernard Madoff should be sentenced to 150 years in jail," Judge Denny Chin said, imposing the toughest possible sentence even after Madoff made a courtroom apology to his victims.
"I leave a legacy of shame to my family. I am responsible for a great deal of suffering and pain. I live in a tormented state," the disgraced 71-year-old financier said as he now faces spending the rest of his life in prison.
Madoff looked at the judge and said "I apologize to my victims" and then turned around to face some of those who lost their life savings in a three-decade long scam.
"I am sorry," he said simply. "I can't offer you an excuse for my behavior. There is no excuse for that. And I don't ask for forgiveness."
Defense lawyer Ira Sorkin had asked the judge to impose a sentence of no more than 20 years given Madoff's age, saying such a jail term would be "sufficient" punishment.
But many of the victims asked for the toughest possible sentence including one tearful woman who asked that he be kept "in a cage behind bars."
Another man told the court he had been "wiped out by Madoff" and said he wanted "to make sure his prison cell becomes his coffin."
As court-appointed liquidators struggle to recover the missing billions to compensate some of Madoff's clients, Judge Chin told the court: "I don't get the sense that Bernard Madoff said all that he could or told all that he knows."
Chins said there had not been a single letter from friends or family testifying to Madoff's good deeds. "The absence of such support is telling," he said.
"The symbolism of the sentence is important for three reasons: retribution, deterrence and it is important for the victims," he said.
"I do not agree that the victims are succumbing to the temptation of mob vengeance."
The verdict came some six months after the former Nasdaq (NASDAQ: news) stock market chairman was unmasked as a huge con artist who ran one of the biggest financial scams of all time.
Prosecutors say about 13 billion dollars was handed to Madoff. The financier himself has talked about losing some 50 billion dollars, which is believed to be the amount that would have been paid out had the funds been properly invested.
Once the darling of the markets who was believed to have the Midas (NYSE: MDS - news) touch, Madoff admitted 11 charges of fraud, perjury and theft in March.
Among his victims were Hollywood celebrities, international movers and shakers, some of the world's most famous banks and Jewish charities, some of which were forced to close after the scheme unraveled.
Madoff told the court in March that of the billions of dollars which passed through his hands during his three-decade scam he never invested one cent in the market. Instead he stashed the funds in a Chase Manhattan bank account.
The funds were then used to pay out "dividends" to investors in what is known as a "Ponzi scheme."
The sums were shockingly large -- bigger than the gross domestic product of countries such as Luxembourg, and more than the external debt of several poor African nations.
Chin has ordered that Madoff forfeit over 170 billion dollars in illegally obtained assets, following a request from the prosecutors.
In an accompanying order, a district court in New York also stipulated that his wife, Ruth Madoff, be stripped of 85 million dollars in assets, leaving her with just 2.5 million dollars in cash.
One lingering issue is how to return the stolen funds. Of the billions dollars which were lost, prosecutors say only one billion dollars have been recovered from the liquidation of his assets.
The judge deferred the issue of restitution for another 90 days to give court-appointed liquidators more time to recover the missing funds.
Outside the courthouse Monday, Michael De Vita was among many deceived investors who had said he hoped the judge would be tough.
"I am here to see how the justice system can do, in the face of the biggest thief in the history on the universe," De Vita, 59, told AFP.
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