Feds Want Madoff In Jail, No Bail

Prosecutor Says Alleged Wall Street Scam Artist Mailed $1M In Jewelry To Relatives

(CBS/AP)  Prosecutors on Monday said disgraced financier Bernard Madoff violated bail conditions by mailing about $1 million worth of jewelry and other assets to relatives and should be jailed without bail.

"The defendant's recent actions amount to obstruction of justice," Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Litt told a judge at a hearing in federal court in Manhattan.

U.S. District Magistrate Ronald Ellis asked the lawyers to submit written arguments and said he would rule later.

Madoff's lawyer, Ira Sorkin, described the items as heirlooms that included cufflinks and antique watches. He said they were not significant assets.

The items were sent to Madoff's children and to unidentified friends vacationing in Florida.

"We maintain it happened innocently," Sorkin said. "He's not a threat to the community and there's no danger he's going to flee."

Madoff later left the courthouse, riding away in a silver sedan while surrounded by a swarm of cameras, and returning to his Upper East Side apartment.

Meanwhile, Republican and Democratic House members said Monday that the alleged $50 billion fraud reflects deep, systemic problems at the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission.

Inspector General H. David Kotz said he is so concerned about the SEC's failure to uncover Madoff's alleged pyramid scheme that the IG is expanding the inquiry called for last month by SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. Cox had pushed the blame squarely onto the SEC's career staff for the failure to detect what Madoff was doing.

As CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports on the CBS Evening News, a crucial witness in helping determine how Madoff's scheme evaded regulators was a no-show: whistleblower Harry Markopolos.

Markopolos agreed to testify at first but ended up telling Congress he was too physically worn down and needs more time.

A derivatives expert, Markopolos first alerted officials nearly 10 years ago about what he saw as Madoff's scam. Then 2005 he sent this 19-page report to the SEC titled "the World's Largest Hedge Fund is a Fraud"

---

Read more about Madoff whistleblower Harry Makopolis in the "Couric and Co." blog

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At the first congressional hearing on the scandal, Rep. Spencer Bachus, a Republican, called for Congress to create a regulatory structure "for the 21st century."

The House Financial Services Committee is trying to determine how, despite warnings back to at least 1999 to SEC staff members, Madoff continued to operate his alleged scheme.

"Clearly, our regulatory system ... failed miserably and we must rebuild it now," said Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa.

Kotz said that he will examine the operations of the SEC's enforcement and inspection divisions and will make recommendations, steps beyond what Cox had called for.

"I am a human face on this tragedy," said Allan Goldstein, a retired New York textile distributor who was expected to testify at Monday's hearing.

Goldstein, 76, said he lost his entire life savings with Madoff and had to cash in his life insurance policies to cover his mortgage.

"Everything I worked for over a 50-year career is gone," Goldstein said in an e-mail message from his attorney's firm. He said he had no reason to question the steady returns of 8 percent to 12 percent a year that Madoff's firm told him he was earning.

The Securities Investor Protection Corp. and the trustee handling the liquidation of Madoff's firm said Monday they mailed more than 8,000 claim forms to customers on Friday. Besides individuals, others who lost money were big hedge funds, international banks and charities.

Lawmakers jumped on the opportunity to show concern in the first congressional hearing since the scandal broke with Madoff's arrest on Dec. 11.

Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat, insisted that all five SEC commissioners should tender their resignations to President-elect Barack Obama.

Republicans warned against rushing to new regulation as a response to the SEC breakdown.

"While the failures of regulatory and private-sector due diligence exposed by the Madoff matter are obvious, they do not lead me to conclude at this stage of the inquiry that what is needed are broad new legislative or regulatory mandates on the rest of the securities industry," said Bachus, the senior Republican on the panel.

"What we may have in the Madoff case is not necessarily a lack of enforcement and oversight tools, but a failure to use them," he said.

The Madoff scandal allegedly involves a pyramid scheme, in which people are persuaded to invest in a fraudulent operation. The early investors are paid their returns out of money put in by later investors.

[spiritwalk]

The people that Madoff stole from have a right to be angry at his dishonesty. They trusted him to steal from other people and share it with them.

[trigs_8]

Throw him in jail. $1,000,000 isn''t significant to his lawyer but it would be to my brother who lost $600,000! You can''t make this "stuff" up.

[gowerd]

Even after he is charged he is sending assets to relatives....hmmm....hope I''m related. This guy is dog dirt through and through, he should be locked up and throw away the key, then sell all the assets regardless in who''s name it''s in, having proven it was bought with bogus money and give it back to the people who have lost their life savings. Little compensation is better than none.

[oldtimer1942-2009]

If a corrupt scum bag like this piece of garbage does not go to jail then who will for corporate corruption? Has any of these bums been been indicted yet? I think not.

[jsutaguy]

The Madoff theft is on the front page, because the REAL money on Wall Street does not want the news focused on the 7.7 TRILLION DOLLARS our federal government has given to Wall STreet banks in the last 3 months, as those parasites are frantically preparing to extract that money from their banks and put it in their pockets.

You''ve really got to read this article by the Washington Post. http://tinyurl.com/6emukq

This top-rated piece of investigative reporting shows that Wall Street took BILLIONS out of each of our pockets by cornering the Oil markets in 2008, controlling 81 percent of all oil contracts in the world. They plan to do the same in 2009. This story was ignored by CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN.

Cut and paste this and pass it on.

http://tinyurl.com/6emukq

As the article points out, these same Wall Street firms plan to do the same thing to the price of everything we eat or drink, using the same cheap money they are getting from our treasury, in 2009.

Why are we paying to keep these firms in business?

Why are our taxes being used to keep them operating?

They aren''t lending money to real businesses, they aren''t helping our economy, they simply aren''t necessary for America...they are only used by the very richest parasites who are destroying our country and dictating its policies by buying out our government.

[jsutaguy]

..and do these idiots think the entire country will simply sit by and watch them create an entire NEW set of pointless rules while STILL failing to hold anyone at ALL on Wall Street accountable for the biggest fraud in the history of mankind?

Want to see where your tax dollars are going in this "bank bailout"? Check out the pix of the fourth and fifth homes owned by these Wall Street pukes:
http://tinyurl.com/5qf7cu

Now check out the parties you''''''''ve paid for with your tax dollars:
http://tinyurl.com/562moo

Merrill Lynch paid CEO Stanley O''Neal 161 MILLION DOLLARS in 2007

Citi Group paid CEO Charles Prince 68 MILLION DOLLARS IN 2007

Citi Group paid new CEO Vikram Pandit 274 MILLION DOLLARS in 2008

Countrywide Financial paid CEO Angelo Mozilo 37.5 MILLION DOLLARS in 2007

Together, these guys created this real estate fraud that has driven up YOUR TAXES while (now) and destroyed YOUR EQUITY.... and each of these guys was
paid 10''s of millions for the 7 previous years that this fraud was being committed.
And now? Now, you and I are told that we each owe our Federal Government 24,000$ apiece to pay for the crimes that these parasites committed..to pay for their fraud http://tinyurl.com/96a7s4

[spiritwalk]

give it back to the people who have lost their life savings. Little compensation is better than none.
Posted by gowerd
.....................
The difference with this scandel is that "little people" did not loose their life savings. Madoff targeted the "big people" who had already made fortunes feeding on the "little people''s" life savings. It was an "us against them scam" and these "victims" had no problem with the idea of Madoof taking from "them".
Madoff then sweetened the "us against them scam" by promising profits to specifically Jewish charities and Israeli PAC''s.
This is not about some auto worker being defaulted out of their retirement funds, it is about seasoned financial speculators who invested 100''s of millions of their acquired fortunes being taken by their own continuing greed for profits by one of their own, for their own.
The classic ploy of "The Sting", the easiest "victims'' to con are thieves who think they are being let in on a opportuinty to steal from someone else.

[boatdocster]

For the scope and size of his crime, Madoff should not be granted bail.

Hopefully, if proven guilty, he will do 30 or 40 years in a hard core federal prison - No white collar low security golf country club for this guy.

[whitewolf60]

For once, I agree with the Feds!! Lock him up without bail, seize ALL his assets and pay back the people he ripped off.

[FHMullane]

No Bail!!!!

[quickly101]

This house arrest stuff is a krock. Put the man in jail, if he hadn''t been wealthy, he would have never been given this option. Quit catering to the wealthy in this country, I, for one, am sick of it.

[rsmik]

This guy just gets sleazier every day.

[ms1-1-1]

Bernard Madoff enters his house through a crowd of cameras in New York, Dec. 17, 2008.

He looks like a pompous AZ that he is smiling...
oh, like Michael Milken and his junk bond scam that royally wiped out life savings he got to go to Florida have his own jail build eat lobster, play golf why?

He is well protected by the mafia. Now living in Lake Tahoe CA wealthy of others trust. How sad.

You be during side-bar their will be plenty AZ kissing hey scratch my back, I in turn give you a couple million turn your cheek game over.

[biblethumpar]

Weve Been Taken for a ride.
Everything youve ever thought of, worked hard for.
or aspired to be has all been a sham.
how free are you,
when you work day after day just to line someone elses pockets due to their Amoral Usury, sure Credit helped this modern society
by allowing us to have things now which we would otherwise have to save to purchase Cash,
When did things go so wrong, when a Bank can inflate your Interest rate overninght based on you not being on time with your other personal bills, and still be
legal, Ive always said Beware those jews,
They neither care for America and never will, it is simply a tool to be used same as any other Gentile nation, Yet we just Bailed them out to the tune of 700 billion and were given assurances that it is for OUR Economy....
Whose Isreals?

[jsutaguy]

Hey idiots, the MAXIMUM TIME that MADOFF can get IF HE IS CONVICTED is 10 years and a 5 million dollar fine, thanks to the hard work of the lobbyists who have gotten our corrupt SEC to rewrite the laws for securities fraud. http://tinyurl.com/5qm3hm

10 years! MAX! 5 million dollars, MAX! http://tinyurl.com/a7us4y

If you STILL don''t realize how corrupt our government has become, and how very, very little will actually do to punish those responsible for these massive crimes, you are too stupid to be walking around without supervision. THe fix for Madoff is already in! Just get a judge to impose a light sentene: http://www.slate.com/id/2206967/

[ms1-1-1]

endrepubs

THERE IS NO '' GREATEST GENERATION '' its a myth.
Every generation has its idiots.

BUSH / CHENEY scam

Here though, BUSH orders CIA to do the dirty deed kill Michael Connell the one man who could put BUSH in prison for life.

[ms1-1-1]

justaguy11


Ok so you''re upset, we are equally but we are not the IDIOTs... here we did something called '' TRUST ''

Wealthy elites trusted Made off would generate zillions...

and ...

[jsutaguy]

The Madoff theft is on the front page, because the REAL money on Wall Street does not want the news focused on the 7.7 TRILLION DOLLARS our federal government has given to Wall STreet banks in the last 3 months, as those parasites are frantically preparing to extract that money from their banks and put it in their pockets.

You''ve really got to read this article by the Washington Post. http://tinyurl.com/6emukq

This top-rated piece of investigative reporting shows that Wall Street took BILLIONS out of each of our pockets by cornering the Oil markets in 2008, controlling 81 percent of all oil contracts in the world. They plan to do the same in 2009. This story was ignored by CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN.

Cut and paste this and pass it on.

http://tinyurl.com/6emukq

As the article points out, these same Wall Street firms plan to do the same thing to the price of everything we eat or drink, using the same cheap money they are getting from our treasury, in 2009.

Why are we paying to keep these firms in business?

Why are our taxes being used to keep them operating?

They aren''t lending money to real businesses, they aren''t helping our economy, they simply aren''''t necessary for America...they are only used by the very richest parasites who are destroying our country and dictating its policies by buying out our government.

[dnc4evr89]

How bout they hang him upside down and let every investor he''s ripped off peel the skin off his azz!......

[jsutaguy]

They''re only rich because they''ve stolen our money by manipulating gasoline prices:
http://tinyurl.com/56onza

Food and Drink prices:
http://tinyurl.com/7psauc

And by taking 7.7 Trillion dollars of our tax money and giving it to their Wall Street parasite parents:
http://tinyurl.com/96a7s4

Also being used to pay for their fourth and fifth luxury homes: http://tinyurl.com/5qf7cu

And taxpayer funded parties: http://tinyurl.com/562moo

While our elderly are forced into the streets by the absurdly rising costs of everything, all manipulated by Wall Street
http://tinyurl.com/9lyamh

[questionnews]

Rob a liqueur store for $50 & go directly to jail.
Rod investors of Billions & go home.

Sweet deal for Madoff.

[jsutaguy]

Hey people, the MAXIMUM TIME that MADOFF can get IF HE IS CONVICTED is 10 years and a 5 million dollar fine, thanks to the hard work of the lobbyists who have gotten our corrupt SEC to rewrite the laws for securities fraud. http://tinyurl.com/5qm3hm
10 years! MAX! 5 million dollars, MAX! Parole in 5 years!! http://tinyurl.com/a7us4y
If you STILL don''t realize how corrupt our government has become, and how very, very little it will actually do to punish those responsible for these massive crimes, you are too stupid to be walking around without supervision. The fix for Madoff is already in! Just get a judge to impose a lighter sentence than the 10 years he is supposed to get. Lawyers already discussing it: http://www.slate.com/id/2206967/
And Madoff is just a distraction from the REAL theft: 7.7 TRILLION DOLLARS given to Wall Street Banks http://tinyurl.com/96a7s4 like Citi group, which paid CEO Charles Prince 68 MILLION DOLLARS IN 2007, and paid new CEO Vikram Pandit 274 MILLION DOLLARS in 2008 And Bank of America which bought Countrywide Financial who paid CEO Angelo Mozilo 37.5 MILLION DOLLARS in 2007
We are being completely robbed, people! Our country is being rapidly bankrupted by these thieving parasites on Wall Street and NOBODY IS EVEN BEING CHARGED WITH A CRIME! These thieves are just using our money to throw parties: http://tinyurl.com/562moo

They''re paying for their fourth and fifth luxury home: http://tinyurl.com/5qf7cu

How much longer are we going to tolerate this?

[jsutaguy]

Hey people, the MAXIMUM TIME that MADOFF can get IF HE IS CONVICTED is 10 years and a 5 million dollar fine, thanks to the hard work of the lobbyists who have gotten our corrupt SEC to rewrite the laws for securities fraud. http://tinyurl.com/5qm3hm
10 years! MAX! 5 million dollars, MAX! Parole in 5 years!! http://tinyurl.com/a7us4y
If you STILL don''t realize how corrupt our government has become, and how very, very little it will actually do to punish those responsible for these massive crimes, you are too stupid to be walking around without supervision. The fix for Madoff is already in! Just get a judge to impose a lighter sentence than the 10 years he is supposed to get. Lawyers already discussing it: http://www.slate.com/id/2206967/
And Madoff is just a distraction from the REAL theft: 7.7 TRILLION DOLLARS given to Wall Street Banks http://tinyurl.com/96a7s4 like Citi group, which paid CEO Charles Prince 68 MILLION DOLLARS IN 2007, and paid new CEO Vikram Pandit 274 MILLION DOLLARS in 2008 And Bank of America which bought Countrywide Financial who paid CEO Angelo Mozilo 37.5 MILLION DOLLARS in 2007
We are being completely robbed, people! Our country is being rapidly bankrupted by these thieving parasites on Wall Street and NOBODY IS EVEN BEING CHARGED WITH A CRIME! These thieves are just using our money to throw parties: http://tinyurl.com/562moo

They''re paying for their fourth and fifth luxury home: http://tinyurl.com/5qf7cu

How much longer are we going to tolerate this?

[holalanemeir]

Send him to GITMO and throw away the key. This was economic terrorism at its worst.

[erniepf]

"From 1995 to 2007, Congress was under Republican control."

How''s that deregulation working out for ya?

[bobnjersey]

[Madoff''s lawyer, Ira Sorkin, described the items as heirlooms that included cufflinks and antique watches. Sorkin said they were not significant assets. ]

not signifigant? then bernie and his family won''t miss them.

in years to come they can all tell the story of uncle bernie and how he screwed everyone ... including the family ... with his stupidity.

I just can''t help but wonder how many of these folks running to the government for help NOW, in this matter, are the same folks who have banged the "get the government out of our lives" drum in the past.
And how many of ''em enthusiastly voted for:
"Government isn''t the solution to the problem, government is the problem"
..... Ronnie Raygun.

[carpriddler]

I can''t wait to see the spin. Madoff will find Jesus, donate a $100 million to sick children and walk away with billions. Obama will pardon Bernie at the end of his first and final term when Obama loses to Jeb Bush in 2012.

[culturechang]

Locked up without bond. Never happen.

The federal jails are full of prostitutes and massage parlor operators. From seeing the feds actions, you would think *** was a sin and stealing was not. If you going to regulate morality, it least look at the Bible you reference for clarification.

[matrixrx2003]

Feds Want Madoff Locked Up Without Bail

Madoff will never see a day behind bars. He will comit sucide before he goes to jail and I will bet a McDonalds Cheese Burger on that with anybody !

[excoachken]

Just because it was the super rich that he skreweled, they want to put him in jail. They didn''t suggest this with Ken Lay, or any of the others who just stole from the middle class.Once again, superior justice for the wealthy!

[the74blaster]

Feds Want Madoff Locked Up Without Bail

Madoff will never see a day behind bars. He will comit sucide before he goes to jail and I will bet a McDonalds Cheese Burger on that with anybody !

Posted by MatrixRX2003 at 06:08 PM : Jan 05, 2009,

Yeah, you are probably right. What they whould do is grab him, ship him off to Cuba, hook him up to a polygragh, Waterboard him to find out where the money is, take it all, return it to those he screwed over, and then bring him before a firing squad!

We should not tolerate anything less!

[lady54-2009]

2008 won''t be remembered as the year that the economy unsuspected slipped out of control. 2008 will be known as the pinnacle in a series of years of unleashed greed.

Money doesn''t disappear. It was either never there, or somebody took it. We were robbed folks.

First there was the war in Iraq, and I''m not saying we shouldn''t defend our country. I''m talking about the unnecessary billions in expenditures that the defense contractors and sub contractors took from the American taxpayers pocket.

Then there were the skyrocketing gas prices. Didn''t the oil companies realize how devastating it would be to commerce to take away almost all of America''s extra spending money? Now far fewer of us can afford to take vacations, buy cars or fancy electronic devices.

Third there were all the savings accounts and retirements stolen from millions of us because money lenders went nuts and started giving money away to any one just for the closing points.

Next there was the $700,000,000,000.00 buy-out which again was snatched from the taxpayers pockets and went right to the same people who robbed us.

This will also be known the year that the cash "torch" was passed from "Greenspan" to "Cashkary". You can''t make this stuff up.

Evidently, the human species isn''t ready for the honor system quite yet. I vote for freedom, security and stability through accountability.

[truth_police]

This is a RUSE (counterfeit) CBS Comments page. Only people who actually SUBMIT an opinion or comment can see any of these comments. And if they migrate away to another webpage afterwards, they cannot get back to this so-called ''comments'' page where these opinions are posted, UNLESS they submit another opinion. The only way to access this ''comments'' page is to submit an opinion. 99 percent of the article readers do not submit opinions, but like me, they want to read other''s comments. So 99.99 percent of the people who read the subject article cannot see your comments. Your opinion has, for all practical purposes, been completely stifled, silenced, censored, smothered, muzzled, gagged, suffocated by CBS. YOU''VE BEEN DUPED ... SUCKER-PUNCHED right out of the ring. Shuttled off to a sound-proof booth where essentially no one can hear you. When I submit an opinion I want the same audience the article had or why bother. Like most people, I''m not interested in being shuttled off to a sound-proof booth where my opinion is effectively muzzled, silenced. Here you are talking to empty seats. What good is it to have a "Readers'' Comments" section when there is no realistic way for readers of the article to access the comments? CBS is defrauding you with a ruse, counterfeit comments webpage.

[hitoyou11]

Republican and Democratic: it is nice to see they know how to act upset. The Republican and Democratic are not going to do anything but TALK, like they always do. The Republican and Democratic are the ones the $1 million worth of jewelry and other assets got mail too.

[dnamj]

I could read the comments before I commented.

[cbscrash072]

I decided to submit my opinion after reading truth_police.

In my opinion you should have your computer fixed.

[cbscrash072]

As for Madoff, why did you guys make bail easier for him? Throw him in prison and not that special white collar one. Throw him into the general pop with all the other losers. Maybe if we started throwing Mr. ceo in with Bubba Mr. Ceo would ask himself if stealing millions or billions is worth having Bubba stretch your ***? If you can''t put a Ceo in regular prison how can you put anybody in regular prison?

[twomtns]

Madoff''s lawyer, described the items as heirlooms
He said they were not significant assets.

one million dollars not significant assets ???
I suppose when compared to the $50 billion fraud this Judas pulled off it is not significant amount to all but a small percentage of the population but one million dollars is a significant amount of money to all the charities & pensioners he defrauded
put him in jail leave him there until his trial and
hopefully for many years after

[renonv5]

Truth_Police

What are you talking about??? How old is your computer?

[renonv5]

Republicans warned against rushing to new regulation as a response to the SEC breakdown.

Now why doesn''t this surprise me? What are they trying to hide/protect?

It is difficult for me to believe this guy did all of this on his own. I hope they keep diggin'' and diggin''. I would almost bet money that there is collusion somewhere. Did all those big high-rollers lose the money they say they did? Was there anybody at the SEC in on it? I gotta believe this may just be the tip of the iceberg.

[terrorislame]

Gonzo Will Help Madoff Get OFF
Gonzo Choked Shrub`s Chicken for Years

[nebul09]

Why at the last minute sending him to jail without bail when this monster transferred huge amounts of money and jewelry to family members. bloomberg''s-"superior-than thou-because- I-am-jewish" mouth espoused Michael Bell and Plaxico Burress criminal infractions, kept his lips shut about this MONSTER and his THUG criminal ACTS. I bet this monster will not be investigated about all the millions missing from the treasury dept on 911.....this monster is a terrorist in a suit armed with a briefcase.

[ssm9451]

Off with his head!

[rushlimpdrug]

Leave the poor man alone!

Who knows, he may have the answers to
a stimulus package for the U.S.

[lili5044]

Oh quit yer ******* people all he did was send a few trinkets to some family members and friends. He is being a good boy now sitting in his 7 million dollar apartment. Some of us have it and some of us don''t. Don''t be a hater,it causes wrinkles :(

[cbsblogger]

Why is he roaming free in his multi million dollar apartment? He should be tarred feathered and pilloried on Wall Street.

Rep David Scott nailed it today in the hearings. SEC had to be complicit in the cover-up! Not only were they complicit but so were yet unknown influential members of Congress who forced the SEC to stand down because Madoff was a hero to so many in NYC. Follow the money and influence and you''ll find the cesspool. They never figured the market would crash big time and Madoff would be uncovered.

If these greedy stupid yet wealthy idiots from the gold coast of Long Island and elsewhere who invested with Madoff are made whole, while the innocent victims of Katrina, Enron, and the 2009 market crash must eat it, we need a Boston Tea Party and Congress needs thrown overboard.

[donevis-2009]

The people that Madoff stole from have a right to be angry at his dishonesty. They trusted him to steal from other people and share it with them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by spiritwalk at 04:04 PM : Jan 05, 2009

Well put Spirt. Right on the head!!

[donevis-2009]

Worth the REPOST:

When a dog craps on your lawn, do you blame the dog?
No, the dog was just doing what dogs do. You blame the dog''''s overseer, the owner supposed to be regulating the dog''''s behavior.

Here are the SEC chairs during the 8 years of the Bushit administration who let the Madoff scandal develop:

Harvey Pitt 2001-2003--"quit" due to lack of oversight during Enron swindle.

William Donaldson 2003-2005--fired due to insufficient loyalty to Bushit ideology--now an Obama supporter.

Christopher Cox 2005-present--a Reaganite Republican, asleep at the switch as Madoff stole his billions.


Is there a theme here? Reaganite Neocon Repugs let swindlers steal. Anyone not falling into line is fired.

That is the Bushit Repugs for you.

So get the $50 billion out of their offshore accounts.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by jbrown88881 at 05:01 PM : Jan 05, 2009