Subscribe to Print Edition | Sun., March 15, 2009 Adar 19, 5769 | | Israel Time: 18:50 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Joy of Giving Travel Week's End Anglo File
Bernard Madoff, center, arriving at the Manhattan federal court Thurs.
 (AP)
Last update - 20:24 12/03/2009
Madoff pleads guilty to huge financial swindle
By The Associated Press
Tags: Bernard Madoff, Ponzi 

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 to the delight of his seething victims.

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.

Madoff spoke softly but firmly to the judge as he pleaded guilty to 11 charges in his first public comments about his crimes since the scandal broke in early December.
Advertisement
"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."

Prosecutors say the disgraced financier, who has spent three months under house arrest in his $7 million Manhattan penthouse, could face a maximum term of 150 years in prison at sentencing June 16.

DeWitt Baker, an investor who attended the hearing and said he lost more than a million dollars with Madoff, called it fantastic that Madoff's bail was revoked but belittled the apology.

"I don't think he has a sincere bone in his body," said DeWitt, who added 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.

Madoff described his crimes after he entered a guilty plea to all 11 counts he was charged with, including fraud, perjury, theft from an employee benefit plan, and two counts of international money laundering.

He told the judge that he believed the fraud would be short-term and that he could extricate himself. He implicated no one else, though investigators suspect involvement by relatives and top lieutenants who helped run his operation from its midtown Manhattan headquarters.

The plea came three months after the FBI claimed Madoff admitted to his sons that his once-revered investment fund was all a big lie - a Ponzi, or pyramid, scheme that was in the billions of dollars. Since his arrest in December, the scandal has turned the former Nasdaq chairman into a pariah who has worn a bulletproof vest to court.

The scheme evaporated life fortunes, wiped out charities and apparently pushed at least two investors to commit suicide. Victims big and small were swindled by Madoff, from elderly Florida retirees to actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.

Helicopters circled above the courthouse before the hearing, and federal officers with machine gun-style weapons stood outside as Madoff arrived.

Jilted investors signed in before entering the courtroom on the 24th floor. Richard and Cynthia Friedman turned up to get a glimpse of the man who defrauded them of their life savings of $3 million.

Richard Friedman, an accountant, noticed how well his clients were doing with Madoff and began investing his own money in 1991. He learned it was gone months before he had planned to retire - a plan now on hold.

"I wanted him to see some of the faces of the people he lied to and destroyed," said Cynthia Friedman, 59.

After arguments began on whether Madoff should remain free on bail, his lawyer Ira Sorkin described the bail conditions and how Madoff had, at his wife's own expense, paid for private security at his penthouse.

Loud laughter then erupted among some of the more than 100 spectators crammed into the large courtroom on the 24th floor of the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan. The judge warned the spectators to remain silent.

George Nierenberg, the first of the three investors to speak, approached the podium glaring at Madoff, then said in the financier's direction: I don't know if you had a chance to turn around and look at the victims.

At the hint of a confrontation, a marshal sitting behind Madoff stood up, and the judge directed Nierenberg to speak directly to the bench.

The courtroom erupted in applause after the judge announced Madoff would go directly to jail. As he was led out of court, a spectator yelled, "Hey, Bernie," but was shushed by investors in court and backed off.

The plea does not end the Madoff saga: Investigators are still undertaking the daunting task of unraveling how he pulled off the fraud for decades without being caught.

Court papers say Madoff generated or had employees generate tens of thousands of account statements and other documents through the U.S. Postal Service, operating a massive Ponzi scheme, prosecutors said.

"The money was never invested, but was used by Madoff, his business and others," prosecutors said

Authorities said he confessed to his family that he had carried out a $50 billion fraud. In court documents filed Tuesday, prosecutors raised the size of the fraud to $64.8 billion.

Experts say the actual loss was more likely much less and that higher numbers reflect false profits he promised investors. So far, authorities have located about $1 billion for jilted investors.

In addition to prison time, he said Madoff faces mandatory restitution to
victims, forfeiture of ill-gotten gains and criminal fines.


Related articles:
  • Why does Bernard Madoff evoke record-breaking resentment?
  • Wiesel says he cannot forgive Madoff
  • N.Y. toy fair markets Madoff look-alike doll - Smash-Me Bernie at $99.95
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Talk to Hamas
    Senior U.S. officials are urging Obama to begin dialogue with Islamist group.
    Living large
    Disgraced Wall Street financier Madoff's net worth in 2008 was $823 million.
      1.   He Didn`t Get Me, But Now He`s Going To Get His 18:15  |  Jeff Northridge 12/03/09
      2.   Deeply sorry and ashamed 18:20  |  Chris Linthwaite 12/03/09
      3.   #2 I`d like to know who benefited from this scheme also 19:24  |  Kris Lazar 12/03/09
      4.   To #1; Skipping country is not an option ... 19:32  |  leo 12/03/09
      5.   Where did the money go? 23:00  |  Avi 12/03/09
      6.   WHERE IS THE MONEY GONE? 23:12  |  james hazan 12/03/09
      7.   Greed and the Jew Madoff 02:45  |  john and the TRUTH! 13/03/09
      8.   Claw back will make many more unhappy 08:15  |  tko 13/03/09
      9.   Most of the money was never there. 09:00  |  Colin Wright 13/03/09
      10.   john and the TRUTH #7 09:05  |  Colin Wright 13/03/09
      11.   Punished for being Jewish 10:39  |  John Stein 13/03/09
      12.   What is his true name? 22:56  |  Antonio da Silva 13/03/09
      13.   Madoff is very calm: the Gang?s calculated everything very well. 18:37  |  Morpheus 15/03/09
     Haaretz Hot Topics
    Israel 2009 election results: Voter breakdown
    Israel goes to the polls
    Conflict in Gaza
    Israel vs. Hamas
    Iran: Nuclear and regional ambitions
    More Headlines
    18:25 Abbas aide: Israel never offered a serious two-state proposal
    17:23 Hamas: No new developments in Shalit deal
    14:02 ANALYSIS / Olmert using Netanyahu to pressure Hamas on Shalit deal
    09:11 Don't protest for Shalit, protest for release of terrorists
    13:02 EU to press for Fatah-Hamas unity government
    13:54 Police call off terror alert in south Tel Aviv
    01:21 WATCH: Daily news round-up from Israel
    17:31 American in stable condition after seriously hurt in West Bank protest
    16:49 Hundreds of pampered cats put on display at Petah Tikva festival
    08:41 Arabs view indictment of Sudan president as act of imperialism
    11:42 Britain denies entry to Hezbollah official
    12:45 IDF to station troops in Hebron's 'House of Contention'
    07:29 Likud leaders: Livni demand for rotation blocking unity coalition
    Previous Editions
    Special Offers
    Advertisement
    Spring Specials-Dan Hotels
    Jerusalem from 179$. Tel-Aviv from 223$. Herzliya from 336$
    Dead Sea Skin Care
    Quality cosmetics from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 12% off!
    Summer in Israel
    Israeli style - Tzofim Chetz V'Keshet 2009
    Passover Vacations
    The BEST Passover Vacations around ? Mexico, Arizona and Florida
    Camp Kimama Israel 2009
    The best place for your children this summer
    Eldan Rent a Car
    Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
    Jewish Singles Personal Ads
    Find the love of your life on JDate.com
    Junkyard
    Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
    Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | | Israel 2009 election results
    Site rules | Makom: Engaging on Israel | Search engine marketing
    Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
    © Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved