Denied: Madoff Appeal to Get Out of Jail Fails

March 20, 2009— -- A three judge panel has denied super scammer Bernard Madoff's request to be released from jail and go back to luxurious house arrest in his penthouse while he awaits his sentencing in June.

Madoff pled guilty to 11 felony counts last week including securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and perjury. He faces a 150 year sentence.

Madoff's attorney, Ira Lee Sorkin, had appealed the decision to hold Madoff at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan until his sentencing. Rather, Sorkin argued at a hearing before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday, Madoff should be allowed to return to house arrest at his $7 million apartment on the Upper East Side.

Sorkin argued that Madoff had thus far cooperated with the terms of the house arrest, turned in his passport, and that he was not a flight risk.

"There was never any evidence he was about to flee," Sorkin said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Litt said there is a difference between private security and federal prison. The guards could fall asleep, Litt argued, or be subject to "financial inducements." Litt said Madoff "has a history of deception" that merits his continued detention.

The judges agreed with Litt.

Click here to read the judges' order on Madoff.

"The defendant has a residence abroad, and has had ample opportunity over a long period of time to secret substantial resources outside the country," they wrote.