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Convicted swindler Bernard Madoff was sentenced
to 150 years in prison 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 U.S.
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.


      "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 $13 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 $171 billion forfeiture order
stripping Madoff of all his personal property, including real
estate, investments, and $80 million in assets his wife Ruth had
claimed were hers. The order left her with $2.5 million.


      The terms require the Madoffs to sell a $7 million Manhattan
apartment where Ruth Madoff still lives. An $11 million estate in
Palm Beach, Fla., a $4 million home in Montauk and a $2.2 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 $171 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 $65 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 $1 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 $38,100.) 


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 $5.1 billion
alleged to have come out of victims' pockets - and hedge fund
manager J. Ezra Merkin. All have denied any wrongdoing.
      

Gallery

Bernard Madoff ordered to jail after guilty plea

SEC, Madoff agree to settle civil fraud case

Madoff client list includes hundreds of Minnesotans

Business and Economic News

Crime, Law and Justice

Bernard Madoff has been sentenced to the maximum
150 years in prison for his multibillion-dollar fraud scheme.

Bernard L. Madoff leaves U.S. Federal Court

Madoff sentenced to 150 years

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