Source: 10 More to be Charged with Madoff

Swindler Sentenced to 150-Year Prison Term for Multi-Billion Dollar Fraud

(CBS/AP)  In one of the highest-profile financial fraud cases in history, a judge firmly sided with Bernard Madoff's thousands of victims when he gave the disgraced financier a sentence long enough for him to die in prison.

A person familiar with the investigation said 10 more people would face federal charges by the time the probe into the multibillion-dollar fraud is complete. So far, only Madoff and an accountant accused of failing to make basic auditing checks have been criminally charged.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, wouldn't detail potential charges or say whether the 10 would include Madoff's family or former employees.

In court Monday, the 71-year-old Madoff said he alone orchestrated the massive Ponzi scheme. "How do you excuse lying to your brother and your two sons? How do you excuse lying and deceiving a wife who stood by you for 50 years and still does?"

Ira Lee Sorkin, Madoff's attorney, told CBS' The Early Show, that he assisted in helping his client craft his statement to the judge. Asked if Madoff acted alone, Sorkin said, "Absolutely."

Madoff also admitted it was impossible for him to excuse deeds that U.S. District Judge Denny Chin noted had cost investors $13.2 billion by conservative estimates and $50 billion by the estimate Madoff gave his sons in December.

"I don't ask any forgiveness," Madoff told Chin. "Although I may not have intended harm, I did a great deal of harm."

Later, he turned around to look at the victims lining the first row of the gallery.

"I will turn and face you," he said mechanically. "I'm sorry. I know that doesn't help you."

The judge then took his turn.

"This is not just a matter of money," Chin said. "The breach of trust was massive. Investors - individuals, charities, pension funds, institutional clients - were repeatedly lied to, as they were told their monies would be invested in stocks when they were not."

Complete Bernard Madoff coverage:

Madoff Feels Remorse, Lawyer Says
10 More To Be Charged, Source Says
Madoff Sentenced To 150 Years In Prison
Ruth Madoff: "Embarrassed And Ashamed"
Madoff's Fraud: A Family Affair?
Transcript of Madoff Sentencing
Analysis: 150-Year Sentence "Grossly Unfair"
Court Sketches: Madoff Sentencing

Madoff received the maximum term for the massive Ponzi scheme run at least since the early 1990s that demolished the life savings of thousands of people, wrecked charities and shook confidence in the U.S. financial system.

Chin dismissed Madoff's pleas for leniency, noting that Madoff made substantial loans to family members, including moving $15 million of his company's money into his wife's personal accounts as it became clear that the scheme was unraveling.

"I simply do not get the sense that Mr. Madoff has done all that he could or told all that he knows," Chin said.

"Here, the message must be sent that Mr. Madoff's crimes were extraordinarily evil and that this kind of irresponsible manipulation of the system is not merely a bloodless financial crime that takes place just on paper, but it is instead ... one that takes a staggering human toll," Chin said.

He noted the pain of more than 100 investors - several of whom whooped and cheered in court when he was sentenced - who had urged Madoff be sent to prison for life.

Madoff, looking thinner than his last court appearance in March, gave no noticeable reaction when the sentence was announced.

When nine victims described their pain earlier, Madoff kept his eyes focused ahead, his head slightly bowed. Some openly wept or raised their voices, labeling Madoff a "monster," "a true beast," a "psychopath" and an "evil low-life."

Dominic Ambrosino, a retired jail guard, said losing his life savings cost him his freedom and he got satisfaction from knowing Madoff will be confined to prison "in much the same way he imprisoned us as well as others."

He added: "In a sense, I would like someone in the court today to tell me how long is my sentence."

Tom Fitzmaurice said Madoff left him financially ruined as he "cheated his victims out of their money so that he and his wife, Ruth, and their two sons could live a life of luxury beyond belief. This life is normally reserved for royalty, not for common thieves."

Carla Hirschhorn said the world she had built with her husband "crumbled beneath us" when Madoff revealed his fraud to his sons and was arrested the following December morning by FBI agents.

She said that since that day, "life has been a living hell. It feels like a nightmare that we can't wake from."

Sheryl Weinstein, a certified accountant, said Madoff was able to carry out his fraud because he seemed like a normal human being.

"But underneath the facade is a true beast," she said. "He should not be given the opportunity to blend so seamlessly into our society again."

When asked by the judge whether he had anything to say, Madoff slowly stood, leaned forward on the defense table and spoke in a monotone for about 10 minutes. At various times, he referred to his monumental fraud as a "problem," "an error of judgment" and "a tragic mistake."

He claimed he and his wife were tormented, saying she "cries herself to sleep every night, knowing all the pain and suffering I have caused."

He said: "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."

His immediate family did not attend the sentencing. But Ruth Madoff - often a target of victims' scorn since her husband's arrest - broke her silence afterward by issuing a statement through her lawyer. She said she, too, had been misled.

"I am embarrassed and ashamed," she said. "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."

Prosecutor Lisa Baroni said Madoff deserved a life sentence because he "stole ruthlessly and without remorse."

Madoff, who has been jailed since March, already has taken a severe financial hit: Last week, a judge issued a preliminary $171 billion forfeiture order stripping Madoff of all his personal property, including real estate, investments and $80 million in assets his wife had claimed were hers. The order left her with $2.5 million that couldn't be tied to the fraud.

[darthcheney345]

I can't wait to see the list of 10 names.

I wonder if one of them is Clinton.

Or is it two?

[darthcheney345]

by lloydbest1 June 30, 2009 12:57 PM PDT
The disappearing middle class can (and should) combine forces with the poor.
-------------

You missed my entire point.

The poor are welded at the hip to the ultra wealthy. The ultra wealty power elite steals money from the middle class and gives it to the poor to pander for their votes.

The poor will follow the ultra wealthy pandering power elite wherever it goes. The poor despise the middle class. They call US the "wealthy," while the actual wealthy are "helping the poor."

The wealthy have been working on this for generations. They have intentionally expanded the poor population with things like Zero Population group (which only the middle class did), and they have kept them ignorant with the public non-education system.

The poor and the wealthy are the enemies of the middle class. Combines, they outnumber the middle by a larger and larger margin while the poor breed like flies.

The middle class will be extinct within the next decade or two.

We are doomed, and there is nothing we can do about it.

[darthcheney345]

by lloydbest1 June 30, 2009 12:57 PM PDT
I have read numerous posts of yours and have been enraged enough by some of them to spit railroad spikes.
---------------

Maybe you should take some anger management classes.

Go ahead and spend your money now before it loses all its value in the Obama economic disaster.

[lloydbest1]

"Oh, wait. Probably you were expecting a serious answer.
No, seriously. We can't.
We aren't the ones who caused this mess.
We can't do anything to change it.
The members of middle class have been the butt of the joke for as long as there has been a middle class. We exist only at the whim of the wealthy. The wealthy keep us around mainly to bleed us so they can pander to the poor and keep themselves in power.
Today the poor and the wealthy far outnumber the dwindling middle class. And they intend to just keep riding us deeper and deeper into the ground until we disappear.
The work ethic is dead. I'm starting to think it was just a myth all along, a myth used by the wealthy to keep our noses to the grindstone for their benefit.

The middle class is doomed.

We are becoming like the Asian world. A two-class system with the ultra wealthy power elite ruling class, and the dirt poor peasant worker class living in grinding poverty and slave like living conditions.
Assume the position. We're going in.
And that's not Sully flying the plane."

Posted by darthcheney345 June 30, 2009 11:39 AM PDT

Boy, ain't you the ray of sunshine....
One thing that would, at least, help is to stop fighting amongst ourselves. I have read numerous posts of yours and have been enraged enough by some of them to spit railroad spikes.
But I think you have it pretty well nailed as regards to the attitude and conduct of the wealthy elite.
What this means is even though we do not see eye to eye on some subjects we may well on others. If "we the people" can find common ground and work toward solutions instead of scoring points offa each other (and I see a lot of that on these threads) we can accomplish a lot.
The disappearing middle class can (and should) combine forces with the poor. This class is increasing in numbers faster than any other and at a rate far exceeding any other time in US history. Since the majority of the poverty stricken used to be "middle class" recently there shouldn't be the mutual suspicion that used to exist between the two. What we may not have in funding we more than make up for in sheer numbers. There is no power man or God can command that can survive the onslaught of a truly outraged oppressed majority.
The tough thing is - to put aside our differences and that applies to far more than just "lib" or "con". To answer your questions posed earlier......Madoff may well have been a democrat. It is even possible that a lot of his stolen loot somehow made its way to Israel (tho' I rather doubt it). In any case, Kenny Lay, Bernie Ebbers, the unlovely Dennis Koslowski and about 90% of the Andersen Group most assuredly were not Dems. Point here is, Both parties share the blame and both are accountable. Neither has much credibility and no one has the monopoly on virtue.

[sayfud-deen]

boo hoo,boo hoo,everybody is crying because this guy conned them out of their money or, they a happy because the guy got 150 years! i don't feel sorry for any of the parties involved. because it can be summed up in one word!GREED! they were all greedy. who in their right mind gives a guy every cent they have? a greedy person. and where were the children of these people? did'nt they have enough sense to tell their to err on the side of caution? this is no different than the con on the street. any con man will tell you that if the person wasn't greedy the con would'nt work! this dude just played the game for bigger stakes. these greedya$$ed people probably would'nt give a guy on the street a cup of coffee in the wintertime,now they want the world to feel sorry for them! **** on them!

[darthcheney345]

So why didn't Clinton the Democrat do anything to stop all the rampant Democrat greed of people like Madoff the Democrat when he got reported to the SEC while Clinton the Democrat was the president?

Could it be that Madoff the Democrat contributed heavily to the Democrat campaign of Clinton the Democrat?

Madoff the Democrat is the modern version of Joe Kennedy the Democrat. Joe Kennedy the Democrat was the biggest Wall Street crook of his day, just like Madoff the Democrat is today. But FDR the Democrat appointed Joe Kennedy the Democrat crook to be the first head of the SEC. Isn't that strange?

It just seems like Democrats always seem to be involved in some sort of sleazy lying cheating stealing criminal activity while they angrily lash out at the conduct of Republicans.

But that's different, because Republicans claim to have high standards, so their misconduct is hypocrisy. Democrats, on the other hand, have no standards at all, so there's nothing wrong with their sleazy lying cheating stealing drowning Ponzi scheme bribing and cheating on their wives after they replaced the other guy by expressing outrage that he cheated on his wife.

Yes, that's what makes Democrats so much better.

[darthcheney345]

So, now there are 10 others suspected?

How many of them are named CLINTON????

Oh, come on. With all the financial fraud that was running rampant on his watch, that we know about SO FAR (remember, we just found out about Madoff in December), how could Clinton NOT know????

Didn't we just spend the past 8 years being told that every burned out lightbulb was "clearly a failure of presidential leadership?"

And yet, we are STILL turning up more financial fraud from the Clinton years. How is that NOT a "failure of presidential leadership????"

Please! None of this is ever going to change until we start taking things seriously.

[chonder2]

With a tag like whitemale08 you must be from Goatnut,Montana.

[Kuei1248]

WHEN DOES THE SEC GET CHARGED?!

[whatsup49]

poor mrs. bernie, she gets only 2.5 million. gosh, i could live out my life comfortably on 2.5 mill. i hope she can too, if she's not indicted and lands her butt in jail.

as for bernie himself, rot in hell.

[hamiltongrad]

When you are very very rich, 2.5 million is hardly enough. It is sad, terrible story. There are only victims here, due to greed, society is trumping up what is in fact a personal stimulus scheme, taking money from the very rich to the waiters, hotels, boat makers, and such. what is so wrong with that ?

[kovith6]

this crook should be hung!!!!!

[whitemale08]

Again people, Madoff is just a mid-level minion.

We are being looted, right now, in untold trillions by Goldman Sucks and JP Morgan.

How are we paying for it?

Through Obama's MASSIVE MASSIVE AUSTERITY CUTS in health-care.
Through the hyper-inflation in food and energy.
Through the MASSIVE MASSIVE AUSTERITY CUTS in our standard-of-living under the guise of 'global warming'.
Through pandemics like the swine flu due to a collapsing health-dare infrastructure around the world.

WE ARE NOW SLAVES TO GOLDMAN SUCKS AND JP MORGAN BECAUSE IDIOTS LIKE OBAMA AND BUSH BAILED OUT THEIR WORTHLESS DERIVATIVES AND CREDIT-DEFAULT SWAPS!

[chonder2]

NY Joe said he is!!

[HGOODGUY]

IF YOU THINK THE MICHAEL JACKSON SITUATION IS SIGNIFICANT-IT HAS NOTHING ON MADOFF & ASSOCIATES.

AS SMART AS MADOFF WAS-THERE IS NO WAY HE COILD HAVE PULLED THIS OFF SINGLE-HANDEDLY!!

IF THE INVESTIGATION IS ALLOWED TO GO TO MAXIMUM DEPTH-ITS GOING TO BE WATERGATE ALL OVER AGAIN-BUT WITH A DIFFERENT CAST OF CHARACTERS.

YOU AINT SEEN NOTHING YET!!!

[ArmandB]

All the papers keep calling this the largest Ponzi scheme ever and that isn't true. The largest by far is Social Security. Hopefully when it goes broke, Congress will get 150 years in prison too.

[hamiltongrad]

Too bad you think that the program of FDR was a Ponzi scheme. You don't understand the greatness of this man, in our history, as a visionary, and a compassionate leader, to help ALL the people not just the very very rich. No, ArmandB, this is not the way. All money is the property of all the people. not just the few who won the lottery of life.
Greed is not the responsibility of one person, but all of us. The markets are driven by little people who need help. Thus, as I noted, blame and punishment are not the answers. Dialogue and Understanding is.

[darthcheney345]

***** TROLL ALERT TROLL ALERT TROLL ALERT *****

hamiltongrad is a prankster. Ignore any post by hamiltongrad.

[hamiltongrad]

While others are calling for punishment and "blood", as a Progressive, I am calling for understanding and dialogue. The money is not "lost" but shifted to hands of working people in hotels, shops, car dealerships, even waiters. The goal now is to repay those who lost the money, due to bad judgment, so that we can move on. This is similar to a "stimulus" bill. There are winners and losers, but the SEC needs to take responsibility and make the losers here whole. Those responsible need to never work in financials again, and that would be a significant punishment, but jail ? Come on, no one died, and what good would that do to anyone ? Jail, brutal force, war and such is NEVER the answer to any problem. No war has ever been won by fighting.

[ArmandB]

Please send me your banking information so that I may shift your hard earned money to working people in hotels shops car dealerships and waiters, I'm sure you'll understand and we can have a dialogue about it and maybe find someone (not me) to make you whole. Perhaps the taxpayer will be kind enough to do it.

[janeyre-2009]

Hopefully, Ruth, the sons, the brother and other's will be indicted. This family should lose everything. They knew and were a part of the crime...

[rickthomas5]

Let them all burn!!! They're all scumbags and I mean the morons that invested with these lowlifes. I just have to laugh at all of these dopes that gave their money to this one man and are complaining that they got screwed. There is not one ounce of my body that feels bad, sorry or sympathetic for these people. And one again, welcome to the party pal!

[darthcheney345]

I think I'll blame the Bush administration for all these stupid people.
-------------

Aaah, sure why not. We're all doomed anyway, and we all know nobody will ever be able to make a Democrat take accountability for doing all this destruction. And it WAS the Democrats solidly behind all of it. Madoff himself is a staunch Democrat.

But go ahead and blame the GOP for the Democrats' crimes. One more time isn't going to change anything at this point.

Did I mention, we're all doomed?

[chonder2]

Chirp...Chirp....Chirp...Chirp... I'll tell you 1 more time charlie. Get off of the big wheel and come in for lunch. And wash your hands!

[ramos1129]

One thing that is really stupid in these posting is where some folks lable classes of professions as evil. Politicans are defined as anyone that is elected to public office from dog catcher to President. Our economic system needs a banking system which in turn requires bankers. Everyone, whether or not they will admit it, has know very good folks in both professions.

[ramos1129]

Ira Lee Sorkin, Madoff's attorney, told CBS' The Early Show, that he assisted in helping his client craft his statement to the judge. Asked if Madoff acted alone, Sorkin said, "Absolutely."

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

Sorkin knows better. In order to do what he did, Madoff had loads of help - intentional and unintentional. Whoever is found guilty or cupable, should be stripped off all assets he/she enjoys plus future earnings. Ruth knew what was happening. The fact that she is being allowed to keep $2.5 M is a disgrace. She will not starve. She has sons that can take her in.

[babooph]

Yea ,his relatives did not know,he can keep 2&1/2 million from the scam,that must be why we call this a "news" STORY!