Victims tell packed courtroom that the Wall Street swindler should be shown no mercy
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(NEW YORK) A federal judge sentenced Bernard Madoff to 150 years in prison yesterday for operating a huge Ponzi scheme that devastated the lives of thousands of people, calling his crimes 'extraordinarily evil'.
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| Predator and prey: Victims of the Ponzi scheme (above) gathering outside the Federal District Court in New York yesterday for the sentencing hearing on Madoff |
In pronouncing the sentence - the maximum he could have handed down - Judge Denny Chin turned aside Madoff's own assertions of remorse and rejected the suggestion from Madoff's lawyers that there was a sense of 'mob vengeance' surrounding calls for a long prison term.
'Objectively speaking, the fraud here was staggering,' the judge said. 'It spanned more than 20 years.'
After victims told a packed courtroom that he should be shown no mercy in the case, Madoff stood up to acknowledge the damage he had inflicted and expressed regret. 'I'm responsible for a great deal of suffering and pain, I understand that,' he told the court. 'I live in a tormented state now, knowing all of the pain and suffering that I've created.
'I've left a legacy of shame, as some of my victims have pointed out, to my family and my grandchildren.'
Addressing his victims seated in the courtroom, he said: 'I will turn and face you. I'm sorry. I know that doesn't help you.'
Prosecutors said that Madoff deserved the maximum sentence - representing a life sentence and more for the disgraced 71-year-old financier - for perpetrating one of the biggest investment frauds in Wall Street history.
Madoff's own lawyers said he should receive only 12 years, a sentence that would offer him the chance to walk out of prison at age 83.
The hearing opened shortly after 10am with statements from victims of the Madoff scheme, which took in some US$65 billion before it collapsed. Madoff's victims stood up and told wrenching stories of how they had lost everything in his scheme, and were now working several jobs and living hand-to- mouth.
They fought through tears, connected Madoff to villains from Dante's Inferno, spoke of their feelings of betrayal and mistrust, and described how their families had lost money that would have gone to caring for disabled relatives.
'How could someone do this to us?' said Dominic Ambrosino, a retired New York City corrections officer who said he lost his life savings with Madoff and was the first victim to speak. 'We worked honestly and so hard.'
Another victim, Sharon Lissauer, who said she invested all of her savings with Madoff, told the court: 'He should spend his whole life in jail. He's ruined so many people's lives. He killed my spirit and shattered my dreams.'
After Madoff's victims finished speaking, his lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, stood up and said the government's request for a 150-year sentence bordered on absurd. He called Madoff a 'deeply flawed individual', but a human being nonetheless.
'Vengeance is not the goal of punishment,' Mr Sorkin said.
Still, Mr Sorkin added that Madoff expects to 'live out his years in prison'.
But in meting out the maximum sentence, Judge Chin pointed out that no friends, family or other supporters had submitted any letters on Madoff's behalf, attesting to the strength of his character or good deeds he had done.
The hearing yesterday marked a climactic moment in the criminal case against Madoff, whose name has become synonymous with greed and fraud on Wall Street.
It will be at least another three months before the judge makes a decision on repaying the victims. Prosecutors requested more time to sift through Madoff's records to determine how much was lost and how many people are owed.
Madoff's accountant, David Friehling, was charged with securities fraud in March, and is so far the only other person to face criminal charges connected to the Ponzi scheme. -- NYT
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