Madoff gets 150-year sentence as victims applaud
NEW YORK -- Bernard Madoff, the most reviled emblem of business corruption to emerge from the nation's latest gilded age, likely will die behind bars after being sentenced Monday to 150 years in prison for what a federal judge called an "extraordinarily evil," multibillion-dollar scam that victimized charities, celebrities, pension funds and average investors worldwide.
But the departure from the public stage of Madoff — who for the first time Monday declared he was sorry and faced his victims in an emotionally wrenching courtroom session — opens a new chapter in his case. It is likely to focus on an investigation of suspected accomplices, a continued hunt for whatever remains of the stolen billions, and intensifying demands by Madoff's victims for reimbursement and improvements to government's oversight of investment companies.
In imposing a sentence usually given only to the most violent criminals, U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin implicitly discredited the 71-year-old disgraced financier's claim of remorse. And Chin explicitly rejected defense attorney Ira Lee Sorkin's claim that a maximum sentence would unfairly bow to "mob vengeance" demands by the thousands of victims in one of the largest and longest-running financial crimes in history.
Chin said he relied on three factors in setting the sentence: retribution for the unprecedented size of the $13 billion-plus scam, the need to deter any future similar wrongdoers and the scam's impact on its victims.
"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 that it is ... one that takes a staggering human toll," said Chin, who added that Madoff had not been fully cooperative with authorities.
The punishment far exceeded the prison terms given to other noted white-collar criminals whose convictions involved smaller securities frauds. Former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years. Former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling received a 24-year prison term.
Madoff, dressed in a gray suit the judge allowed him to wear instead of a prison uniform, stood silently and showed no emotion as Chin announced the sentence.
Applause and cheers
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