[Infowarrior] - Madoff set to plead guilty, could face 150 yrs in jail

[Richard Forno]

Madoff set to plead guilty, could face 150 yrs in jail
AFP
Published: Tuesday March 10, 2009


http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Madoff_set_to_plead_guilty_could_fa_03102009.html
		

Fallen Wall Street baron Bernard Madoff has confirmed he is set to  
plead guilty to a massive multi-billion dollar fraud as prosecutors  
said he should spend the rest of his life in prison.

Madoff, 70, said through his lawyer that he expects to plead guilty at  
a hearing Thursday to the 11 counts of fraud announced by prosecutors  
on Tuesday.

"That is a fair expectation," defense lawyer Ira Sorkin said.

The charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 150 years.

Dressed in a dark suit and sporting gray swept-back hair, Madoff  
looked ahead without expression in a courtroom packed with dozens of  
journalists.

He was arrested in December after allegedly confessing to a 50 billion  
dollar pyramid scheme, or Ponzi fraud, in which money is stolen from  
new investors to pay phony profits to existing clients.

Prosecutors charged him with "a scheme to defraud the clients... by  
soliciting billions of dollars of funds under false pretenses."

"There is no plea agreement," federal prosecutor Marc Litt told the  
court. "He must plead guilty to all 11 counts."

Prosecutors say Madoff's scam started from at least the 1980s and  
lasted right up to his arrest.

Victims' lawyers believe some three million people, including major  
banks, celebrities, charities and universities, lost money.

So far Madoff is the only person charged. However, prosecutors say  
their investigation is continuing.

The former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Exchange and Wall Street  
trading guru has been holed up since his arrest under strict 10  
million dollar bail in his luxury New York apartment.

A guilty plea on Thursday would mean he gives up his right to a trial.

Judge Denny Chin told the court that he would decide on Thursday  
whether Madoff should be taken into custody or be allowed to remain  
under house arrest until sentencing.

"Sentencing would not take place for several months," Chin said.

In a highly unusual move, victims of Madoff's alleged fraud are to be  
given the right to speak at Thursday's hearing -- provided they  
restrain their anger.

"I understand emotions are high," Chin said, but those appearing must  
"conduct themselves in a manner appropriate to a court room."

Tuesday's session was held to resolve a conflict-of-interest issue  
with Sorkin, whose family had invested with Madoff and who once  
represented two of his business associates in a separate case.

Madoff, grim-faced and speaking in a subdued voice, told the judge he  
wished to keep Sorkin as his attorney. This was granted.

The developments spelled the beginning of the end for a self-made man  
who rose from obscurity to become a key member of the ultra-wealthy  
echelons of the US Jewish community and a noted Wall Street innovator.

Acting US Attorney Lev Dassin said in a statement that Madoff  
committed "an extraordinary array of crimes" over two decades.

"While the alleged crimes are not novel, the size and scope of Mr  
Madoff's fraud are unprecedented."

The criminal information outlining 11 felony charges -- including  
securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud,  
and money laundering -- shed new light on the workings of the alleged  
scam.

According to prosecutors, Madoff secured billions of dollars from  
investors, encouraging them with rock-solid profits and in some cases  
promises of "annual returns in varying amounts of up to approximately  
46 percent per year."

But instead of investing the money, he was recycling the funds "to  
meet the periodic redemption requests of other investors."

Meanwhile, other funds were stolen "to purchase and maintain property  
and services for the personal use and benefit of Madoff, his family  
members, and associates," prosecutors said.

To cover up his fraud, Madoff "repeatedly lied" to regulators and  
conned his clients with impressive-looking offices.

In the two weeks before Madoff's arrest, his company claimed to serve  
4,800 client accounts with a balance of 64.8 billion dollars, but the  
prosecution said Madoff's firm held only "a small fraction of that."

Whether Madoff feels remorse was not yet known.

Sorkin said it was impossible to know the number of victims because  
many clients had "received redemptions that exceeded the money they  
lost."

Sorkin said he did not want "to suggest there were no victims," but  
that there is "difficulty to identify the real victims."