Bernard Madoff Gets The Max
Monday, June 29, 2009SUZANNE PRATT: Bernard Madoff got life behind bars today for his multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme. U.S. District Judge Denny Chen rejected Madoff's request for leniency and sentenced the convicted swindler to 150 years in prison. The judge felt he needed to send a symbolic message to the mastermind of the vast fraud. Erika Miller was in the Manhattan courtroom today and has more on Madoff's day of reckoning.
ERIKA MILLER, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: In testimony that was often tearful and angry, nine Madoff investors shared their stories of financial ruin. Tom Fitzmorris and his wife lost their life savings and appealed to God to spare no mercy in punishing the Ponzi schemer. Miriam Siegman said she sometimes has to scrounge in dumpsters for food. She left the courtroom before the sentence was announced.
MIRIAM SIEGMAN, MADOFF INVESTOR: It's immaterial to me what sentence he received. In fact, when his lawyers stood up and started speaking, I got up and left. It's a form of showing my disdain for him and for the process.
MILLER: For some, like Michael de Vita, there's now a sense of closure.
MICHAEL DE VITA, MADOFF INVESTOR: After this, I never want to hear his name again because this is the end for him. We get rid of this man and one of the victims talked about him as being the beast. And that's exactly what he is
MILLER: Judge Chin stopped short of calling Madoff that. But he did characterize the crimes as extraordinarily evil. In determining Madoff's sentence, Judge Chin says he considered more than just the size and scale of the fraud. He also took into account the broken trust in the American financial system. Chin was not swayed by Madoff's request for leniency. Madoff says he lives in quote a tormented state now knowing all the pain and suffering I've created. At one point, he turned and faced some victims, saying I'm sorry. I know that doesn't help you. His only visible supporter was outside the courthouse. This afternoon, however, Madoff's wife Ruth broke her silence, issuing a statement that read in part quote, not a day goes by when I don't ache over the stories that I have heard and read. Many victims are now focusing on trying to recover money from SIPIC, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Some, like Richard Friedman, also want accountability from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
RICHARD FRIEDMAN, MADOFF INVESTOR: This was the largest fraud or Ponzi scheme in the history of the world. It was handed to them by Markopolos several times and they either turned their head away or they couldn't find it in front of them and that angers me.
MILLER: Madoff has 10 days to appeal his sentence. But attorney Steven Feldman says it's probably a lost cause.
STEVEN FELDMAN, PARTNER, HERRICK, FEINSTEIN: The court had the power here based on the sentencing guidelines which are advisory to sentence him to life and it sentenced him to 150 years. That's something that appeals courts generally defer to.
MILLER: One thing that Judge Chin does not get to decide is where Madoff will serve his time. That's up to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. But Chin is recommending that the jail be in the northeast, presumably so Madoff's family can visit him. Erika Miller, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, New York.
