Bernard Madoff Gets 150 Years in Jail for Epic Fraud

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June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years for masterminding the largest Ponzi scheme in history, six times longer than the penalties meted out to the chief executives of WorldCom Inc. and Enron Corp.

Madoff appeared in court today before U.S. District Judge Denny Chin for the first time since his March 12 guilty plea for an epic swindle that may have reached $65 billion.

?I don?t ask for any forgiveness,? Madoff, 71, told Chin. He said he deceived his brothers, his two sons and his wife, none of whom was in the court. The courtroom burst into applause as Chin imposed the sentence.

Madoff pleaded guilty to securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, investment adviser fraud, three counts of money laundering, false statements, perjury, false filings with the SEC and theft from an employee benefit plan.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSJSnxrMRRrk

Good riddance. This guy really had it coming.
 
Heard on the radio coming into work that prosecutors were shooting for a maximum of 150. Guess they got their way.
 
Well, the guy's already 70 anyway and not going to live for much longer, so it's kind of pointless, isn't it?

I say we bring back stoning and give every person who was ripped off by him a rock. Much more efficient, much more satisfying, much less taxpayer money propping up his wrinkly ass in the prison showers.
 
Well, the guy's already 70 anyway and not going to live for much longer, so it's kind of pointless, isn't it?

I say we bring back stoning and give every person who was ripped off by him a rock. Much more efficient, much more satisfying, much less taxpayer money propping up his wrinkly ass in the prison showers.

he would probably die after the first rock though.
 
Well, the guy's already 70 anyway and not going to live for much longer, so it's kind of pointless, isn't it?

I say we bring back stoning and give every person who was ripped off by him a rock. Much more efficient, much more satisfying, much less taxpayer money propping up his wrinkly ass in the prison showers.

I think it has to do with possibilities of parole. A life sentence means that parole is possible while a long sentence extracts that possibility. But I could be wrong, I'm not a law student.
 
I think it has to do with possibilities of parole. A life sentence means that parole is possible while a long sentence extracts that possibility. But I could be wrong, I'm not a law student.

I always thought it was all about sending a message and making an example out of em, like the Judge is saying "you fucked up sooooo bad, i'm making damn sure you die in prison!"

im probably more wrong though, I only watch Boston Legal

anyway, I was glad to hear that turd got the max sentence.
 
^^ It's also for a reason called general deterrence. It is where a massively huge sentence is given to a person for a certain crime to deter others from doing the same thing because they then know if they get caught, they are going to face a similar thing. It's used in highly publicised cases like this. In theory, it works, but most people who do this have a "I won't get caught, I'm too smart for them all" mentality so in practice it's kind of pointless most of the time.

But yeah, parole has something to do with it as well. If he got 12 years, he would most likely be up for parole in 6-8 years (which, depending on his health, he may make). A life sentence, 20-30 years (which is still a life sentence for a guy his age, but not for somebody younger). The 150 years means he would be up for parole (even if it is a possibility) in 75-100 years. Like I said above, this amount of time is a life sentence without parole for almost anybody of any age, hence th deterrence factor. 75-100 for anybody definitely means in the remotest chance they ever got out of jail, they sure as hell wouldn't be in any shape to enjoy it.

EDIT: dammit, beaten to the point :(
 
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Don't they do "consecutive life sentences" for people that won't ever have a chance at parole?

He said he deceived his brothers, his two sons and his wife, none of whom was in the court.

I bet they will still somehow get to enjoy the money when he dies. IIRC he got caught when he let his son in on the scam, but never let them invest in it.
 
Well, the guy's already 70 anyway and not going to live for much longer, so it's kind of pointless, isn't it?

I say we bring back stoning and give every person who was ripped off by him a rock. Much more efficient, much more satisfying, much less taxpayer money propping up his wrinkly ass in the prison showers.

he would probably die after the first rock though.

How about squirt guns filled with battery acid? Greater pain, and he wouldn't die at the first hit.
 
Forget the rocks and the battery acid. He needs the Judas Cradle.

2930843549_7379b3532c.jpg

judas-cradle.jpg
 
Event though the whole discussion of torturing techniques is thoroughly amusing, I still have to wonder why did he do all this, what was his actual plan? Presumably, his ultimate goal was not to spend all of his retirement in prison, so what was it then? Did he want to eventually flee with the money to third world country that won't extradite him? Why didn't he do so after all, then? Or did he just think that noone will find out till the end of his life? Weird.
 
I watched a documentaty about him last night as it happens and in the last minutes of the programe they had a guy on there he swindled money from and he summed it up like this.

"He is a criminal, any1 can be a criminal. You steal a car your a criminal, he is just a common criminal...........................[LONG PAUSE]............................................asshole"
 
Oh no, he's quite a clever criminal, not a common thief by any lengths. It takes talent to swindle that much money for that amount of time.
 
OK, banged up in gaol for 150 years - I'd go with that - by the time he gets out he is going to be a bit desiccated though.

What about restitution? Is it not the case that his wife and family have benefited greatly and surely they should be made to return his ill gotten gains he passed on to them?

Someone once said if the deal looks too good to be true chances are it is.
 
Event though the whole discussion of torturing techniques is thoroughly amusing, I still have to wonder why did he do all this, what was his actual plan? Presumably, his ultimate goal was not to spend all of his retirement in prison, so what was it then? Did he want to eventually flee with the money to third world country that won't extradite him? Why didn't he do so after all, then? Or did he just think that noone will find out till the end of his life? Weird.

I think his thoughts were more along the lines of "how the hell do I rip more money off of people to pay for my boat/apartment/etc." instead "how in the hell am I going to get out of this." It's pretty revealing, given the size of the Ponzi scheme ($65 billion), that by that time he was in so deep he hardly cared or thought about how to escape, except to keep the fraud going.

Like a drug addict, people in his situation are hardly the ones to count on to break their own bad habits. Although in the end, he did have some conscience left to let some of his employees know of the scheme, which is how he was eventually arrested. The most revealing problem here is how one person (AFAIK he's the only one with charges right now) could keep such a huge lie secret, and the number of holes in regulation and independent oversight with the US financial system that could keep such a fraud alive for so long.

I'd be interested in reading his personal thoughts on the whole matter once this trial is done and he's writing his memoirs from a 8x8x12 (which is probably the only way he'll have left to support his remaining family.)
 
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