Courtesy AP
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How many years will he get?
Saying he was “deeply sorry and ashamed,” Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday to pulling off perhaps the biggest swindle in Wall Street history and was immediately led off to jail in handcuffs after his seething victims applauded in the courtroom.
U.S. District Judge Denny Chin denied bail for Madoff, 70, and ordered him to jail, noting that he had the means to flee and an incentive to do so because of his age.
“I am actually grateful for this opportunity to publicly comment about my crimes, for which I am deeply sorry and ashamed,” he said.
“As the years went by, I realized my risk and this day would inevitably come. I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for my crimes.”
“I don’t think he has a sincere bone in his body,” said DeWitt [Baker], who noted that prison time would be too good for Madoff. “I’d stone him to death,” he said.
Madoff did not look at any of the three investors who spoke at the hearing, even when one turned in his direction and tried to address him.
The fraud, which prosecutors say may have totaled nearly $65 billion, turned a revered money man into an overnight global disgrace whose name became synonymous with the current economic meltdown.
$65 billion? Chump change when compared with the Obama bailout that may have been partially a result of this.
What about all of his family members and associates that were in on the deal? Will they get off scott free? And is there going to be -no attempt- to even recover the money?
This parody of justice stinks.
Hey, greed is good, remember? Wall Street doesn’t need any of that burdensome government regulation, remember? We just let those nice smart Wall Street geniuses do their own thing and not let government get in the way, remember? It was all going to create amazing wealth thru the magic invisible hand of the marketplace, remember?
Face it, wackos… we tried it your way, and your super duper invisible magical hand way DIDN’T WORK. Now we’re going to try running things with responsible adults, with responsible regulations, not magic hand believers, so get out of the way and STFU, mmkay?
“deeply sorry and ashamed,” that he got busted…
I don’t think a life sentence would be to harsh. The only down side is he doesn’t have time left to make it worth it.
“$65 billion? Chump change when compared with the Obama bailout that may have been partially a result of this.” ///
You are equating the financial fraud of Madoff to the recovery attempt by Obama?
Really? What kind of LIE – LIEBERTARIAN are you?
I’ll give the guy just one thing…unlike the cowards who commit terrible crimes then kill themselves, he stood up there, admitted guilt, and will do his time.
The fool in Alabama and that guy in Germany were chickenshits. Madoff at least has some balls.
Of the $65B, how much of that is ‘returns’ and how much is real cash he took from investors? Some money must be located somewhere…one family simply cannot spend $65B. I’m thinking the $65B is the max possible value of the fund based on Madoff’s own rates.
Hang on to that slippery soap, Biotch Madoff.
New great lie of history: “I’m from (wall street/mortgage broker/bank/investment firm) and I’m here to make you rich.”
#6, Valid points.
# 2 Phydeau said, “Now we’re going to try running things with responsible adults, with responsible regulations,”
Congress is taking back control of the, out of control money supply situation?
Time to up your meds.
Recovery of any money would likely require a plea bargain. Since no plea bargain is in the offing, then I would recommend torture.
Other than that, I would give him the choice of prisons…..either the Supermax prison in Colorado where he would be relatively safe, or throw him in with the gang bangers in San Quentin, where his life expectancy would be that of a fruit fly.
Phydeau
When these guys break the law, they go to prison. When the gov’t breaks the law, they get a slap on the hand.
Who’s going to keep the gov’t in check?
#5, Bobbo, “$65 billion? Chump change when compared with the Obama bailout that may have been partially a result of this.”
We’re not at odds. I was merely comparing the orders of magnitude of possible cause and possible effect.
Try not to bring politics into it. I didn’t. (Even though I disagree with the bailout, but that’s not part of this article, just my personal observation.)
“Chump change when compared with the Obama bailout that may have been partially a result of this.”
I used to think we had a word for everything in the English language, but I was stumped when it came to a word for “willfully stupid”. I guess I’ll just have to go with “Republican.”
If he were sorry, he would pay restitution. The problem would be figuring out who to pay it too.
I notice from the material in ‘KD Martan’ posts that this person must be one of the displaced RIGHT WING WINGNUTS still loose in our society. Shame on you Dvorak for supporting this.
I wonder if this guy is the modern day equivalent of Francisco d’Anconia.
#6 Olo,
“Some money must be located somewhere…”
Yeah, IN IRAQ.
bigbob, phydeau… you guys are fascists. Do you even realize it?
Hyper partisans are the most galling and idiotic people on earth, regardless of how intelligent they might be.
#22 Li said
“Hyper partisans are the most galling and idiotic people on earth, regardless of how intelligent they might be.”
Great statement. You know, there are some people who need to “think about” that.
@#22 Agreed
Let’s look at the bright side. After about a week in jail his farts will never make a noise again.
#22. Li- Thank you- I third the motion. The world is not black and white, and until we get that through our fucking skulls…we are doomed.
There was never $65 billion.
The fraud was Madoff telling people his fund (and their investments) were worth $65 billion.
The real amount is simply the total sum of all the actual money (not including re-investment) that people gave him.
No no no no no. We needed a trial, and we needed to see where the money went. There is no discussion of recovery of money, and the OTHER guilty parties get off scott free.
Of course, this is America. In a better world, this slime would be shot in the brain with a 38, on nationl news. Tell me, what would be wrong with that? Really! How many families has he destroyed???? Now, in this fucked up country, he is another tabloid magazine seller.
#14 Who’s going to keep the gov’t in check?
A congressman has hundreds of thousands of constituents. If he receives one hundred letters on a particular issue, it’s considered a landslide of public opinion. Who’s going to keep them in check, Petrov? Their bosses — us. If we get off our fat asses, that is. When was the last time you wrote a letter to your congressman? Do you even know who your congressman is? If all the right-wingers bitching and moaning about how the government sucks would bother to even send an email to their elected representatives, consistently, we’d see some results.
We have a representative government, so we get the government we deserve, good or bad.
#21 bigbob, phydeau… you guys are fascists. Do you even realize it?
Yes, bob, I understand that you consider any government regulation fascism. And if the collapse of our economy from lack of government regulation fails to penetrate your thick skull, you’re hopeless. You, for one, are excused from writing your representatives. 🙂
Still waiting for a right-winger to explain how this Madoff mess could have been prevented by less regulation…
Any time guys. Enlighten us dumb libruls, please.
Im putting money on, he gets a so so sentence but does only A year, pleading some medical condition and gets out.
In a true “free market” what this guy did would fall under “caveat emptor” because you’d be responsible for dealing with someone making false claims …
… like the penis enlarger emails biz.
What’s truly scary is the influence of corporate $$$ and lobbying on our government.
And the fact this guy could have done this for so long is very troublesome.