Bernard Madoff is going to jail after he pleaded guilty to all 11 felony charges for running the largest financial fraud in history on Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said he "has the intention to remand" Madoff after the former Nasdaq chairman confessed that he "operated a Ponzi scheme" and he knew what he did was criminal at a court hearing in Manhattan, New York.
Madoff, who has been under house arrest at his Manhattan apartment on a 10-million-U.S. dollar-bond, is likely to be sent to Manhattan Correction Center and remain there until his sentence in June. He would face a sentence up to 150 years in prison.
"I was thrilled he was caught. I am so happy that he will go to jail," Madoff victim Alene Kent told Xinhua outside the court. " So many people, more than 350 people, have been cheated by this guy."
Kent did not want to reveal how much she had lost. "Sure a lot. It was a terrible thing to say. It was a lot," she said. And when asked if she thinks she could get some of the money back, she murmured repeatedly: "It's gone."
Many people who had suffered huge loss in Madoff's fraud traveled from outside New York to the court hearing. Burt Ross from New Jersey, who owned a real estate company, burst into tears when he recalled the morning when his wife told him that he had just lost 5 million dollars. "It was a joke to the system. This case has changed the sense of financial security of most of us," Ross told Xinhua.
"He is like a regular human being like us. People who are evils look just like you and me," Ross said. "He did something which we never expected."
"I am satisfied that the court put the cuffs on him. It was run properly," Ross said. "We were allowed in. I applauded this."
Madoff pled guilty to 11 counts including securities fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and filing false statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). But he had refused to admit to a conspiracy charge. Ross Intelifano, attorney of Rich & Intelifano LLP, said he believed Madoff did this to "protect his family." Intelifano, who represents 25 clients with a combined loss of 100 million dollars, said he "could possibly recover most of the money lost."
During the hearing, Madoff said he was "deeply sorry" for what he did. But Jesse Cohen said Madoff is just "selling." Cohen's parents, both in their 80s, had to sell their apartment after their investment was wiped out.
Cohen questioned why SEC did not stop Madoff and he does not think it is the end of the case. "It could be a long fight," he said.
Brad N. Friedman, attorney at Milberg LLP who represents about 100 victims, told Xinhua that this case has attracted "attention of the whole world," and as an attorney he will do the best to help his clients.
Madoff was arrested on Dec. 11, 2008 for running a giant Ponzi scheme, a classic fraud that new investors' money would be used to pay off old ones to trick more people. Investors in Madoff's New York-based firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, included celebrities, charities, millionaires, money managers and financial institutions from around the world.
In more than two decades, Madoff asked his workers to create false account documents and trade confirmations of amazingly high stable returns as well as false financial statements for regulators, according to the government investigation.
(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2009)