Any lesser term, they said, should at least be the equivalent of a life sentence. Prosecutors had asked for a prison sentence of 150 years. federal probation department recommended that Madoff get a sentence of 50 years. "He cheated his victims out of their money so he and his wife Ruth could live a life of luxury beyond belief."Ĭhin said the U.S. He had no values," said another victim, Tom Fitzmaurice, in court. The nine victims who addressed the hearing included Carla and Stanley Hirschhorn, who said the loss of their life savings is "a living nightmare that we can't wake up from." The ruling also means luxury cars and boats, a home in Cap d'Antibes, France, artwork and jewelry can be sold off. Madoff and his wife, Ruth, will lose their interest in tens of millions of dollars in loans they made to family, employees and friends.Įarlier, Madoff sat and listened as victims of the scheme spoke of their losses and called for harsh punishment.marshals will be able to sell Madoff's $7 million US apartment and primary residence in Manhattan, a $11 million US house in Palm Beach, Fla., and a $4 million US home in Montauk on New York's Long Island. The government will probably only be able to recoup a fraction of it. That amount is what prosecutors said flowed through the main account used to operate the scheme, not an actual amount of assets held. On June 27, a judge ordered Madoff to forfeit about $170 billion US.The charges included securities fraud and perjury. Pleaded guilty on March 12 to 11 charges of defrauding investors out of as much as $65 billion US over 20 years in a Ponzi scheme.Former non-executive chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange."Lives have been upended and futures have been taken away," she said in the statement. In a written statement distributed outside the couple's Manhattan apartment, she said it was wrong to interpret her silence over the matter up until Monday as indifference. Ruth Madoff, the wife of the fallen financier, issued a statement following the sentencing saying she was ashamed and embarassed by the scandal. Madoff's lawyer, Ira Sorkin, said his client expects to live out his life behind bars. "I dug myself deeper into a hole" as the Ponzi scheme progressed, Madoff told court. He said he "will live with this pain, this torment, for the rest of my life." In court prior to the judge's decision, Madoff faced some of his victims and said he was sorry. Madoff's crimes were extraordinarily evil and that this kind of manipulation of the system is not just a bloodless crime that takes place on paper, but one instead that takes a staggering toll," Chin said. District Judge Denny Chin called the fraud "staggering," adding that " the breach of trust was massive." Madoff, 71, has been in jail since March, when he pleaded guilty to securities fraud and other charges. " The Madoff Affair" airs on June 29 on The Passionate Eye on CBC Newsworld at 10 p.m.
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