- Bernie’s Gang: Who’s Next To Go Down?
- Madoff’s Fraud: A Family Affair?
- AP Source: 10 more could be charged in Madoff scam
- Victims’ Speeches in Court Influenced Judge’s Ruling
- Madoff Faces Harder Time Than Former WorldCom, Enron Executives
- Waiting to See Madoff, an Angry Crowd Is Disappointed
- Palm Beach hails 150-year sentence for Madoff
- Living Large in the Big House
- New law meant to protect Floridians from future Bernie Madoffs
- Where did Madoff’s missing billions go? Investigators face uphill task
- NM union sues over money lost in Madoff scam
- Bernie Madoff Statement
Page Six – Sean Delonas Cartoon (above) – NY Post
Bernie’s Gang: Who’s Next To Go Down? – Forbes
There are many questions unanswered in the wake of the sentence to jail of Bernie Madoff for 150 years, an appropriate eternity for such a scoundrel.
For justice to be properly served, we must find out and prosecute those persons who played a role, any role, in the destruction of ordinary people’s lives and wherewithal.
Leaving Ruth Madoff $2.5 million is a proper pittance, but if she was an accomplice to her husband’s deeds, she should rejoin him somewhere in the federal prison system….
Madoff’s Fraud: A Family Affair? - CBS News
(CBS) One month ago, Ruth Madoff would not speak to CBS News then she did break her silence today in a statement saying: “My reluctance to speak has been interpreted as indifference or lack of sympathy, which is exactly the opposite of the truth.”
CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor reports that she did not appear at her husband’s sentencing but went so far as to group herself with the victims.
“Like everyone else, I feel betrayed and confused,” she said. “The man who committed this horrible fraud is not the man whom I have known for all these years.”
While both husband and wife insist Bernie Madoff acted alone, the Cohen family lost everything and don’t buy it…..
AP Source: 10 more could be charged in Madoff scam – AP
A person familiar with the investigation into disgraced financier Bernard Madoff (MAY’-dawf) says at least 10 more people are likely to be charged by the time the probe is complete.
The person tells The Associated Press they will face federal charges over the next few months. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing…..
Victims’ Speeches in Court Influenced Judge’s Ruling – Wall Street Journal
Carla Hirschhorn of Manalapan, N.J., lost her life savings to Bernard Madoff. On Monday morning, she stood before U.S. District Judge Denny Chin and urged him to give Mr. Madoff the harshest possible sentence.
Fraud victim Michael DeVita, left, gives the victory sign as he leaves the federal courthouse after Mr. Madoff was sentenced to 150 years.
“Do not fail us,” she said, her voice rising in anger.He didn’t. Judge Chin sentenced Mr. Madoff to the maximum possible sentence of 150 years in prison, bringing claps and cheers from victims seated in the courtroom here. The judge said victims’ statements and 113 letters filed with the federal court influenced his sentencing decision.
Madoff Faces Harder Time Than Former WorldCom, Enron Executives – Bloomberg
Bernard Madoff was sentenced to a prison term six times longer than that meted out to the chief executives of WorldCom Inc. and Enron Corp. He’s likely to serve his time in a decidedly harsher prison as well.
Sentenced to 150 years, Madoff will probably be sent to a medium- or high-security prison, probably in the northeastern U.S, according to lawyers and prison consultants. Even worse for Madoff, fellow inmates serving life sentences may want “to make a name for themselves” by harming the ex-money manager, a former inmate said. The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which will decide where he’s jailed, may isolate Madoff to protect him from other…..
Living Large in the Big House – Newsweek
…Madoff’s lawyer, Ira Sorkin, hasn’t confirmed publicly whether his client has secured the services of a prison consultant. But if he does, chances are he would hire someone like John Webster, the managing director of National Prison and Sentencing Consultants. Webster coaches clients on what to expect behind bars—everything from possible assault to diet to conjugal visits (the latter aren’t allowed in federal prison). A standard “prison prep” course runs $3,500, Webster says; 60 percent of them are conducted over the phone. “Some more notable clients—guys with big egos and large checkbooks—insist on flying me out and spending a couple days with them,” he says. “They want the in-person, hold-my-hand kind of prep.” (UPDATE published at 5:10 p.m. ET: Sorkin later told NEWSWEEK that he’s hired Herb Hoelter, CEO of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives, as a sentencing consultant.)…..
The severity of Madoff’s sentence changes his options. A lighter sentence might have allowed Madoff’s team to negotiate his placement from medium security to low, based mostly on his age and notoriety, says Ellis; a 150-year sentence means he will now have to lobby to go from high security to medium. Medium security facilities look similar to low-security institutions, but the inmates are much more likely to be inside for violent crimes. If Madoff gets medium security, says Webster, “He will be assaulted, there’s no doubt about that.” It’s that much of a certainty? “God, yes. Oh, God, yes.”…..
Waiting to See Madoff, an Angry Crowd Is Disappointed – NY Times
….“We’re hoping for a big sentence only as a deterrent,” Cynthia Friedman, a victim of Mr. Madoff’s fraud, told a crowd of reporters before his sentence was handed down. Mrs. Friedman and her husband, Richard, who lost their life savings with Mr. Madoff, spent more than an hour doing interviews with media outlets.
But if this was a media circus, a Wall Street version of the O. J. Simpson case, its center-ring star was nowhere in sight. Mr. Madoff was in a courtroom inside, having been whisked to the defendant’s table through an underground passageway. In the end, the throng was left without even a glimpse of Mr. Madoff, whose fate was sealed at 11:32 a.m. with a sentence of 150 years in prison…..
Palm Beach hails 150-year sentence for Madoff – Reuters
From bars haunted by private wealth managers to luxury shops damaged by the fallout of the scandal, residents of the rich Florida seaside town where money manager Bernard Madoff found many of his victims applauded his stiff sentence on Monday.
“I think he defrauded a lot of people in this town, and I think his intentions were evil,” said Joanne McClellan, owner of Trousseau, a vintage linens shop on Royal Poinciana Way, when asked about the 150-year prison term….
New law meant to protect Floridians from future Bernie Madoffs – Tampa Bay Business Journal
Gov. Charlie Crist signed House Bill 483 into law today, designed to add more protections to securities investors in the wake of the Bernie Madoff scandal.
“Our economy will grow stronger if investors have confidence in our financial markets,” said bill sponsor State Rep. Tom Grady, R-Naples, in a statement. “By increasing the tools available to the state to prosecute violators of our securities laws, we protect investors and foster needed trust in the system.”
The bill expands the power of the Office of Statewide Prosecution as well as the statewide grand jury to include violations involving the Florida Money Laundering Act and the Florida Securities and Investor Protection Act, according to bill analysis provided by the House…..
Where did Madoff’s missing billions go? Investigators face uphill task – The Guardian
One of the biggest mysteries of the Madoff affair is what happened to all the money. Federal investigators involved in tracking Madoff’s missing billions are not even sure how much they are looking for. The amount ranges from estimated losses suffered by investors of $13bn to the $70bn which Madoff has accepted was attributable to his unlawful activities.
So far Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee of Madoff’s collapsed firm, has recovered just $1.2bn on behalf of investors. It is a small return for a six-month investigation that involved the US justice department, the financial regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission, Picard’s office and the US marshals.
If Picard is to narrow the gap between asset recovery and escalating investor losses, it now seems likely that he will have to focus more on those who did business with Madoff rather than rely on tracking down his personal assets….
NM union sues over money lost in Madoff scam – AP via Houston Chronicle
An attorney for a New Mexico teachers union says two state investment agencies would not have lost tens of millions of dollars in the Bernard Madoff scandal had a Texas-based investment firm done its job.
The National Education Association of New Mexico has sued Austin Capital Management on behalf of the state Educational Retirement Board and the State Investment Council, claiming the firm violated its fiduciary duty and was negligent…..
Transcript: Bernie Madoff’s Statement:
The Court: Thank you.
Mr. Madoff, if you would like to speak, now is the
time.
Madoff: Your Honor, I cannot offer you an excuse for my behavior. How do you excuse betraying thousands of investors who entrusted me with their life savings? How do you excuse deceiving 200 employees who have spent most of their working life working for me? How do you excuse lying to your brother and two sons who spent their whole adult life helping to build a successful and respectful business? How do you excuse lying and deceiving a wife who stood by you for 50 years, and still stands by you? And how do you excuse deceiving an industry that you spent a better part of your life trying to improve?
There is no excuse for that, and I don’t ask any forgiveness.
Although I may not have intended any harm, I did a great deal of harm. I believed when I started this problem, this crime, that it would be something I would be able to work my way out of, but that became impossible. As hard as I tried, the deeper I dug myself into a hole. I made a terrible mistake, but it wasn’t the kind of mistake that I had made time and time again, which is a trading mistake. In my business, when you make a trading error, you’re expected to make a trading error, it’s accepted. My error was much more serious.
I made an error of judgment. I refused to accept the fact, could not accept the fact, that for once in my life I failed. I couldn’t admit that failure and that was a tragic mistake. I am responsible for a great deal of suffering and pain. I understand that. I live in a tormented state now knowing of all the pain and suffering that I have created. I have left a legacy of shame, as some of my victims have pointed out, to my family and my grandchildren. That’s something I will live with for the rest of my life.
People have accused me of being silent and not being sympathetic. That is not true. They have accused my wife of being silent and not being sympathetic. Nothing could be further from the truth. She cries herself to sleep every night knowing of all the pain and suffering I have caused, and I am tormented by that as well. She was advised to not speak publicly until after my sentencing by our attorneys, and she complied with that. Today she will make a statement about how she feels about my crimes. I ask you to listen to that. She is sincere and all I ask you is to listen to her.
Apologizing and saying I am sorry, that’s not enough.
Nothing I can say will correct the things that I have done. I feel terrible that an industry I spent my life trying to improve is being criticized terribly now, that regulators who I helped work with over the years are being criticized by what I have done. That is a horrible guilt to live with. There is nothing I can do that will make anyone feel better for the pain and suffering I caused them, but I will live with this pain, with this torment for the rest of my life.
I apologize to my victims. I will turn and face you.
[Turns to victims in courtroom]
I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t help you.
Your Honor, thank you for listening to me.”
Transcript of Judge Chin’s Sentencing Statement:
THE COURT: Please be seated. Good morning. Mr. Madoff, would you please stand.
Mr. Madoff, you pled guilty on March 12th, 2009 to 11 counts of securities fraud, investment advisor fraud, wire and mail fraud, money laundering, making false statements, perjury, filing false documents with the SEC and theft from employee benefit funds You are here this morning to be sentenced for those crimes.
Have you reviewed the presentence report?
MADOFF: Yes, I have, your Honor.
THE COURT: Did you discuss it with your lawyers?
MADOFF: I have.
THE COURT: Mr. Sorkin, have you reviewed the presentence report and discussed it with your client?
MR. SORKIN: Yes, your Honor, we have.
THE COURT: Do you or your client have any objections to the factual recitations or the guidelines calculation?
MR. SORKIN: We do not, your Honor.
THE COURT: Thank you. You can be seated.
Ms. Baroni, does the government have any objections to the presentence report?
MS. BARONI: No, your Honor.
THE COURT: Thank you.
I accept and adopt the factual recitations set forth in the presentence report. I accept and adopt the guidelines calculation set forth in the presentence report with one
clarification which I will discuss in a moment.
The total offense level is 52, the criminal history category is I. The PSR concludes that the guideline range is life imprisonment. That is not quite accurate, however, because the guidelines range cannot be life imprisonment as no count carries the possibility of a life sentence. Rather the most serious counts carry a maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment.
I look then to Section 5G1.2(d) of the guidelines, which tells us that where there are multiple counts, and the guideline range exceeds the statutory maximum for the most serious count, the court must impose consecutive terms of imprisonment to the extent necessary to achieve the total punishment.
There is a little bit of ambiguity, however, as to what is meant by “total punishment” where the guideline calculation calls for life imprisonment, but Second Circuit case law makes clear that in such a situation, the district court is to stack or add up the maximum sentences for all the counts.
In United States v. Evans, for example, 352 F.3d 65, where the guideline calculation called for life imprisonment but no count carried a life sentence, the court held that the guideline range is 240 years, the maximum sentences for all the counts added together.
Accordingly, here the guideline range is not life imprisonment, but 150 years, the maximum sentences for each of the 11 counts added together. Of course, in light of Booker and the case law that followed, the guideline range is advisory only. While I must give the guideline range fair and respectful consideration, I am not bound by it. In fact, the Probation Department recommends a sentence of 50 years.
Instead I must make an individualized assessment based on all the facts and circumstances, including the factors set forth in the statute. In the end, I must impose a sentence that is reasonable.
Ruth Madoff’s post sentencing statement:
I am breaking my silence now, because my reluctance to speak has been interpreted as indifference or lack of sympathy for the victims of my husband Bernie’s crime, which is exactly the opposite of the truth.
From the moment I learned from my husband that he had committed an enormous fraud, I have had two thoughts – first, that so many people who trusted him would be ruined financially and emotionally, and second, that my life with the man I have known for over 50 years was over. Many of my husband’s investors were my close friends and family. And in the days since December, I have read, with immense pain, the wrenching stories of people whose life savings have evaporated because of his crime.
My husband was the one we (and I include myself) respected and trusted with our lives and our livelihoods, often for many, many years, and who was respected in the securities industry as well. Then there is the other man who stunned us all with his confession and is responsible for this terrible situation in which so many now find themselves. Lives have been upended and futures have been taken away. All those touched by this fraud feel betrayed; disbelieving the nightmare they woke to. I am embarrassed and ashamed. Like everyone else, I feel betrayed and confused. The man who committed this horrible fraud is not the man whom I have known for all these years.
In the end, to say that I feel devastated for the many whom my husband has destroyed is truly inadequate. Nothing I can say seems sufficient regarding the daily suffering that all those innocent people are enduring because of my husband. But if it matters to them at all, please know that not a day goes by when I don’t ache over the stories that I have heard and read.
Tags: Bernie Madoff, Legal, ponzi schemes, prison, scammers, Scandal
