Madoff Sentenced to 150 Years in Prison for Largest-Ever Swindle

Bernard Madoff, the former Wall Street money manager who admitted pulling off the largest investment heist in United States history, has been sentenced to 150 years to life in federal prison.

In March, Madoff admitted he stole about $65 billion from thousands of investors in a massive Ponzi scheme that targeted everyone from millionaires, celebrities, and sport stars to retirees and charitable organizations who trusted the financial advisor with their retirement accounts, college funds, and other monies.

The 71-year old former NASDAQ chairman pleaded guilty to securities fraud and today faced a federal court judge in Manhattan. He pleaded for leniency, saying that he “will live with this pain, this torment, for the rest of my life,” according to an msnbc.com report.

About a dozen former clients who lost millions in Madoff’s scheme testified how they were left in financial ruins as a result of Madoff and urged the judge to impose the maximum prison sentence. They called his actions “heinous” and said they had been left “in a living hell” as a result of their losses.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin, in deciding Madoff’s fate, sided with investors and handed down a sentence that all but guarantees that Madoff, who once boasted lavish homes in New York City, Florida, and Europe, will die behind bars.

Hundreds of court spectators gathered in the courtroom and in auxiliary viewing rooms set up to accommodate the overflow crowds reportedly applauded and cheered when the sentence was announced.

However, for most investors, the sentence is a hollow moral victory. Federal authorities say they have tracked down only a tiny fraction of the billions of dollars Madoff stole. That means most clients will not be reimbursed for their losses.

A judge has issued a $171 million forfeiture order stripping Madoff of all his personal property, including real estate, investments, and $80 million in assets his wife Ruth had claimed were hers. That money will be earmarked to be returned to defrauded investors, but it’s just a drop in the bucket.

Madoff and a few other financial titans accused of swindling investors became the face of a corrupt Wall Street in the worst financial downturn in generations. The worsening economy helped bring Madoff’s scheme to light as investors in his programs started asking to withdraw funds that simply were not there.

In a Ponzi scheme, no actual profits are earned but early investors are paid purported profits from funds contributed to the scheme by later investors.

Today’s long prison sentence officially closes the case against Madoff, but his defrauded former clients unfortunately will continue to suffer as a result of his actions.

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