Monday June 29, 11:31 AM
Wall Street fraudster Madoff awaits sentencing
By Luis Torres de la Llosa
NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff faces a federal judge Monday who could sentence him to as much as 150 years in prison, even if experts predict he will get far less.
More than six months after his fall from the height of the financial world, the 71-year-old former Nasdaq (NASDAQ: news) stock market chairman will face US District Judge Denny Chin and once again some of the victims of his massive fraud.
Madoff's lawyer has cited the disgraced mogul's advanced age in pushing for a 12-year sentence, but most experts anticipate a sentence of at least 20 years in jail under harsh conditions.
Once a darling of the markets who was believed to have the Midas (NYSE: MDS - news) touch, Madoff now languishes in a tiny prison cell after admitting 11 charges of fraud, perjury and theft in March.
His victims included Hollywood celebrities, some of the world's most famous banks and even Jewish charities, many of which were forced to close after Madoff's scheme evaporated in a puff of smoke.
But many of his investors were also ordinary, elderly retirees who thought their life savings were in safe hands. They now face financial ruin.
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."
Prosecutors say about 13 billion dollars was handed to Madoff. The financier himself has talked about losing some 50 billion dollars, believed to be the amount that would have been paid out had the funds been properly invested.
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 wife Ruth Madoff be stripped of 85 million dollars in assets, leaving her with just 2.5 million dollars in cash.
"Madoff will get no less than a 20-year sentence and probably more than that," former federal prosecutor William Devaney told AFP.
Under US federal criminal law, a convict must serve at least 85 percent of their sentence and demonstrate good conduct during that time.
Assuming he gets 20 years, that would translate to a minimum of 17 years in prison for Madoff -- by which time he would be 88 years old.
Devaney expected the appeals court to rule on the case within a year, but due to the sheer scale of Madoff's scam, "it would be very difficult for him to get his sentence overturned on appeal."
Another lingering issue in the case is returning the swindled funds. Of the estimated 65 billion dollars of the fraud, prosecutors say only one billion dollars have been recovered from the liquidation of his assets.
For Madoff used the billions of dollars he lodged in his bank account during the three-decade scam to pay out "dividends" to investors in his pyramid scheme -- from what he now says were the entirely fictional investments he had made.
With Madoff almost certainly set to remain in prison for the rest of his life, the conditions of his detention has garnered significant interest.
That is a decision that does not necessarily rest within the power of the federal judge. He can only make recommendations to the Bureau of Prisons.
Given the length of the sentence, Devaney said Madoff would probably not qualify for a prison camp.
"He will be with people who have committed other type of offenses, more violent, and that sort of thing," Simon said.
Madoff has already obtained one small concession from Chin: he was allowed to show up in civilian clothing rather than a prison uniform at Monday's 10:00 am (1400 GMT) hearing in the southern Manhattan court.
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