Feds Propose 150 Years For Madoff

Meanwhile, Federal Judge Orders Disgraced Financier To Forfeit Phantom $170B

(AP)  A federal judge has ordered disgraced financier Bernard Madoff to forfeit more than $170 billion.

Prosecutors say U.S. District Judge Denny Chin entered a preliminary order of forfeiture on Friday. The order forces Madoff to give up his interests in all property, including real estate, investments, cars and boats.

Prosecutor say the government also settled claims against Madoff's wife. Under the arrangement, the government obtained Ruth Madoff's interest in all property, including more than $80 million of property to which she had claimed was hers.

Earlier Friday, federal prosecutors said in court papers that Madoff should receive a 150-year sentence for orchestrating perhaps the largest financial swindle in history.

"The sheer scale of the fraud calls for severe punishment," the prosecutors wrote in response to a defense motion seeking lighter punishment.

Madoff, 71, is due to be sentenced Monday after pleading guilty in March to charges that his exclusive investment advisory business was actually a massive pyramid scheme.

Federal sentencing guidelines allow for the 150-year term, prosecutors said. Any lesser sentence, they added, should still be long enough to send a forceful message and "assure that Madoff will remain in prison for life."

The government's papers quoted from letters to U.S. District Judge Denny Chin written by victims of the scheme who are suffering severe hardships.

Madoff "ruined lives," one letter said. "He deserves no mercy."

At the time of Madoff's arrest, fictitious account statements showed thousands of clients had $65 billion. But investigators say he never traded securities, and instead used money from new investors to pay returns to existing clients.

Prosecutors said Friday that the total losses, which span decades, haven't been calculated. But 1,341 accounts opened since December 1995 alone suffered loses of $13.2 billion, they said.

Madoff attorney Ira Sorkin argued in court papers last week for a 12-year term. He said his client deserved credit for his voluntary surrender, full acceptance of responsibility and meaningful cooperation efforts.

"We seek neither mercy nor sympathy," Sorkin wrote. But he urged the judge to "set aside the emotion and hysteria attendant to this case" as he determines the sentence.

[carolhill814]

Whatever they do to him it is not good enough but the people also knew that they were getting more money than anyone else but they didn't care they lived the high life and that is all they cared about and that is fact.

[DoubleHappiness88]

It should be 150 years AT HARD LABOR.

[luke_4u]

It's always about money. A guy that scams a bunch of greedy suckers out of a bunch of money, get's more time in prison than somebody that killed someone. I think that what they're trying to do to Madoff is "overkill", plain and simple. He stole money. Big deal, that happens everyday. Not that it's the point here, but if the people he scammed hadn't had been so damned greedy, trying to get something for nothing, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I guess they had the right to gamble their money if that's what they wanted to do, but they gambled and "lost". It's a good thing that stupidity isn't against the law, or they'd all be in jail right along with Madoff. They've got nothing coming, just like if you go to a casino and lose. I hope they all learned a lesson from all of this. The best way to hang onto your money is, don't gamble with it.

[1notrub11]

"He said his client deserved credit for his voluntary surrender, full acceptance of responsibility and meaningful cooperation efforts."

OK, one year for each - 147 years at hard labor.

[babooph]

How about his other family members ripped off $,& the HIDDEN funds they will be allowed to keep for not exposing the politicians.

[artorus]

Here's a better idea. Why not make him a part of the FBI's ponzi scheme task force (or whatever the hell it's called) since he obviously knows the ins and outs. Then he can really repay his debt to society.

[WayAround]

As if the FBI doesn't already have an inside angle on the financial crisis.

How many people has the FBI arrested for involvement in the crisis out of how many possible? Pitiful results.

[cs4466]

Madoff was the biggest thief in history. His sentence should be a lifetime of hard labor without possibility of parole. Anything less would be a travesty of justice.

[tmittelstaed]

So, OJ Simpson kills people and gets to play golf the rest of his life. Madoff doesn't kill anyone just takes their money - and he gets life. Shows you where our system's priorities are! It's OK to kill a man but by God don't even THINK of laying a finger on his money!!!

[cs4466]

Faulty comparison. OJ Simpson was found not guilty by a court of law. Madoff was found guilty by a court of law. Comparing the two is in inane, at best.

[ubrew12]

Too bad Madoff didn't run Goldman Sachs. If so, he'd be able to do what he did can keep the corporate jet and weekends in Tahiti.

[gimbeln90]

This sentence is absolutely ridiculous. 150 years? 170 Billion dollars? No. I believe what Madoff did was vile, foul, wrong, ect but this sentence is the epitome of cruel and unusual, and hopefully our judiciary system will correct this which is forbidden by our Constitution.

[WayAround]

Silly goose. Maybe the 150 years / 170 billion dollars was designed to evoke sympathy from bleeding hearts like you....

[ubrew12]

150 years? How about 150 months, but BEFORE he did it? We're supposed to feel good about this totally ridiculous sentence? Its just a statement about how ineffectual our system of government oversight is. WHERE WAS THE FED? The SEC? The Cops? The FBI? Anyone of the dozens of government agencies that are paid to police this and other shenanigans that have been going on in Wall Street for over a decade? Yeah guys. Lets watch a guy drive drunkenly through stop lights for ten years, then throw the book at him once he kills someone. That'll mean a LOT to the rest of us, ESPECIALLY the dame and her kid pushing up roses.

[WayAround]

Good question. I've contacted the Department of Justice twice. My email included the words "I previously worked for the International Mafia (a group of Czech emigrants primarily in Canada), who are responsible for the current global financial crisis."

The Department of Justice never responded.

So I write innocuous comments on CBS (and elsewhere) instead. :-)

[hamiltongrad]

LET HIM GO ! It is just MONEY $$$


I am amazed just how vindictive people are toward a man, his wife, his children, and even a total company - all over money.


Everyday in one way or another people lose their jobs, money and even careers due to the plotting of others. This is a very competitive world.///


Husbands, wives. spouses= can lose all they work for - homes, lives because someone CHEATS on them, that is the law, it is legal. ///


Businesses can break apart, or stock holders of GM can get ZERO- even though the law states otherwise, when BIG GOVT and BIG UNIONS step in and CHANGE the RULES ! ???


So, why are we so angry at one man, who is doing exactly what a lot of other people and our own gov/t does all the time ?

Yes it is unfair. But JAIL ? Come on. It we apply the same standards, then all those divorced people and 1/2 of congress would be in jail too . Let this guy alone. He was just taking care of his family, and taking the advantages that the system gives all of us, daily.

What is the big deal ?

[cs4466]

Are you mentally challenged? Drunk? On drugs? Anything at all that would substantiate your nearly delusional statements?

[pegalys]

I have to agree, it was indeed only money, and it serves no one to extract such severe punishments from the man. The people he took money from had millions themselves to do something beneficial with on their own, but wanted it to simply multiply in someone else's care. Why didn't they take their money and start their enterprise with their own efforts and talents. When you trust it to another you take your chances, especially in a system that prizes profit over principles. He will obviously never do this again, and it is clear he feels guilty from the expression on his face. He can never make up the losses he caused, so he should apply himself to some form of reformist effort that brings understanding to these forms of financial trickery. Putting him in jail will simply put the burden of his upkeep on everybody else.

[crazycwp]

The big deal is this thief planned this crime along time ago. Then he and his family continued it. The whole freakin point is punish him for stealing from people, which is what he DID!!!Your comparison of marital infidelity and grand larceny is ludicrous. AND just because other people are stealing, doesn't mean we have to do the same. RISE ABOVE AND BE ABOVE. I gotta be able to get up and look at myself in the mirror and like what I see and know I try to do the right thing everyday.

[WayAround]

hamiltongrad wrote: "I am amazed just how vindictive people are toward a man"

Silly goose. Madoff is the Mafia's scapegoat. All sins from the current financial crisis will fall on Madoff's back. Oh, yeah, there's the Texan "Sir" Stanford, too. He's like AMD to Intel. :-)

[mutnauq4842]

150 years? wow, it could have been worse-they could have given him life imprisonment.


OK, let's see what knucklehead bites on this one.

[RCC_Soldaten]

170 Billion is correct.

[aubfmet]

Madoff hasn't got enough time left in his life to make a reasonable payment for his crime. There must be something worse than time.

[WayAround]

How about a life sentence of community service cleaning homeless shelters?

[thoughtxchange2]

170 billion?? I think they must mean Million. Madoff estimated his swindle at 50 billion ("Regulators say Madoff himself estimated that $50 billion in personal and institutional wealth from around the world was gone.") . Doubt seriuosly he has 170 billion. He may have 170 million...

[WayAround]

I agree with your reasoning, thoughtxchange2. However, the other major news sources (msnbc, CNN, and Fox) say "billion". Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean the number has any connection with reality....