JUSTICE IS DONE AS MADOFF GETS 150 YRS
DISGRACED financier Bernie Madoff will die in jail after he was yesterday sentenced to 150 years in prison, the maximum punishment allowed for what the judge called “extraordinarily evil” crimes.
US district attorney judge Denny Chin handed down the punishment to Madoff for perpetrating a $65bn (£40bn) investment fraud – Wall Street’s biggest and most brazen.
Madoff pleaded guilty in March to 11 charges including securities fraud, money laundering and perjury.
“Here the message must be sent that Mr Madoff’s crimes were extraordinarily evil,” said Chin.
The judge added: “The breach of trust was massive. I simply do not get the sense that Madoff has done all that he could or told all that he knows.”
Cheers and applause came from the courtroom, which was filled with Madoff’s fleeced investors, many of whom have been condemned to a life of poverty because of his fraud.
The former non-executive chairman of the Nasdaq stock market stood impassively with his hands clasped at his waist – dressed in his signature dark gray suit and tie – showing no reaction when he heard the sentence.
The judge added that he had not received a single letter on Madoff’s behalf testifying to any good deeds or charitable works.
“The absence of such support is telling,” he said.
Chin gave out his sentence after hearing emotional statements from nine of Madoff’s victims, some of whom said they had lost their life savings. Others were forced to sell their homes and some had to apply for government assistance to buy food.
Madoff sat passively throughout the hearing as his victims called him a “beast” and an “animal”.
He apologised to his victims, at one point briefly turning in the direction of the 250 people gathered in the courtroom to say that he will “live with this pain” for the rest of his life.