Madoff Won't Appeal 150-Year Sentence

Convicted Of Running Billion-Dollar Ponzi Scheme, Investor Accepts Ruling

(AP)  Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff will not appeal his 150-year sentence for a fraud that unraveled last December when Madoff confessed to his sons that nearly $65 billion he promised investors was safe was actually only worth a few hundred million dollars.

"We won't be appealing the sentence," Madoff's lawyer, Ira Sorkin, said Thursday. He declined to say why the decision was made. Rebekah Carmichael, a prosecutor's spokeswoman, declined to comment.

The 71-year-old Madoff was sentenced last week for a fraud that spanned at least two decades. He pleaded guilty in March to charges that he bilked thousands of investors out of billions of dollars.

At his sentencing, Madoff apologized to thousands of victims, describing his epic fraud as a "problem," "an error of judgment" and "a tragic mistake."

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

Last Friday, Ruth Madoff was forced out of the $7 million Manhattan penthouse where the couple primarily lived, although they also had homes in the Hamptons (Long Island), Florida and France. Those homes and several yachts, together worth tens of millions of dollars, are being sold to reimburse investors.

Despite the efforts to liquidate his estate, it was expected that investors will receive only a small portion of the more than $13 billion they originally invested.

[billcholee]

madoff is only a small part of a slimey connection with the powers that are holding our country and milking it like the family cow. how did they take care of it in france? or russia? or china? seems like theres only one way to get rid of these bast--ds. every 50 years or so. bury them, bury them hard and deep, so maybe our children will grow up and be proud of america. we seem as a nation to be on a war trail. but we seem to pick the wrong enemy. its time to turn around and see who the enemy really is, its not hard. take a good look. FIGHT THE POWER. GOD BLESS AMERICA. do it now.

[creeper00]

I wouldn't for one second defend Bernie Madoff. But does anyone else find it interesting that the only Wall Street thief to go to jail is the one who stole from the rich?

The crooked bankers who held up John Q. Public not only won't serve time, they got paid off!

Think about it.

[Questionews]

Say he did appeal & got the sentence reduced by half. He's still going to leave prison in a Hearst. Heck, I would reduce his sentence to 20 years just so he would think that he might make it.

[cs4466]

She cries herself to sleep every night knowing that she isn't in her ritzy penthouse anymore.

[andylance1]

Health care reform is simple. Outlaw all medical insurance and nationalize the health care system including the pharmaceutical companies.

Having industry groups promise to lower their prices is a bigger scam than what Bernie Madoff pulled off.

[WayAround]

Madoff is penitent? Yeah, right.

My guess--we'll be seeing Madoff in the media as often as Palin to remind us that ONE (and only ONE) person has been convicted and sentenced to prison for the entire GLOBAL financial scandal.

[ABM_21]

And, what would be the basis for his appeal?

[John_Merritt]

Argument: "They didn't like me (or) they were too mean (or) the penalty did not fit the crime (or) let's make it interesting and make it only 75 years.

[Kuei1248]

The basis for NOT appealing would be the luxury prison he got sent to could be changed to a real prison with real inmates. The only difference between his life now and his life before prison are the type of uniforms the butlers and maids wear.