Madoff Pleads Guilty | 03/12/2009 9:35 am
Madoff Pleads Guilty to 11 Felony Counts (Update)
© Getty Images
On what’s being called his "day of reckoning," crooked investment banker Bernie Madoff pled guilty today to eleven felony charges stemming from his massive Ponzi scam.
The scam, the largest in Wall Street history, involved over 4,000 investors and an estimated $50 billion.
Madoff could face up to 150 years in prison, more than life, when sentenced, but that moment won’t come for up to ninety days, CNN reports.
It’s unclear whether the judge will order Madoff to prison until his sentencing — he has been under house arrest in his multimillion New York penthouse, where he lives with his wife. About 50 of his victims were in the courthouse today to watch Madoff fess up — it was the first time Madoff faced them since his December arrest.
Meanwhile, now that we know he’s guilty, we have a few questions. First, did he act alone. And, will they change the name from "Ponzi scheme" to "Madoff scheme"?
Update: We now hear that the judge ordered Madoff to jail ahead of his sentencing.
Read more about: Bernard Madoff, Bernie Madoff, Business, crime, Economy, Guilty, News, Ponzi Scheme, Ruth Madoff
- Dear Margo: When You Think You've Heard Everything ... You Haven't
- Dear Margo: When Dad/Gramps Just Ain't Interested
- What's your viewpoint on a one-term presidency for Obama, no matter the reason?
- Could Mammograms Fall Victim to Obamacare? by Liz Peek
- Liz Smith: In a Concert Hall Far, Far Away
- Liz Smith: Sharon Stone, Steve Tyrell, Sarah (You Know Who), Glamour, Lesley Gore – and More!
- Queen Martha, by Cynthia McFadden
- Did You Ever See a Book Cry? by Sheila Nevins
- LIZ SMITH FLASH! The Kennedy Conspiracy and the Mafia
- Remember shopping pre-Internet? What era/memory in the evolution of shopping do you think of most fondly?
- Did You Ever See a Book Cry? by Sheila Nevins
- LIZ SMITH FLASH! The Kennedy Conspiracy and the Mafia
- Dear Margo: When Dad/Gramps Just Ain't Interested
- Liz Smith: Sharon Stone, Steve Tyrell, Sarah (You Know Who), Glamour, Lesley Gore – and More!
- Liz Smith: In a Concert Hall Far, Far Away
- Dear Margo: When You Think You've Heard Everything ... You Haven't
- Joan Ganz Cooney Still Shops the Way She Always Has
- Joan Ganz Cooney Looks at Unemployment, Not War
- Let Down and Felt Up? by E.D. Hill
- The World in Vogue (Photos)
- What's your viewpoint on a one-term presidency for Obama, no matter the reason?
- Could Mammograms Fall Victim to Obamacare? by Liz Peek
- Dear Margo: When You Think You've Heard Everything ... You Haven't
- Dear Margo: When Dad/Gramps Just Ain't Interested
- Remember shopping pre-Internet? What era/memory in the evolution of shopping do you think of most fondly?
- Did You Ever See a Book Cry? by Sheila Nevins
- LIZ SMITH FLASH! The Kennedy Conspiracy and the Mafia
- Mr. wOw: Falling in Love Again With 'Marlene'
- Let Down and Felt Up? by E.D. Hill
- The Love Goddess: In Sickness and in Health ... But Hold the Sickness
wOw Features
Reader Voices
Dear Margo: When Dad/Gramps Just Ain't Interested
The Palin Book, as Dear Margo Sees It
22 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
First, he cost his investors money and now his security in jail will cost the taxpayers money - one very expensive villain!
The overhead video of Madoff’s transport this morning was reminiscent of OJ Simpson.
Green Tears, I saw that and heard it this morning…It is very sad that he got all that money illegially YET now the taxpayers have to pay to keep his a$$ in jail!
well….he has now been remanded to sit in jail until his sentencing….I wonder if a grand jury will be the next step—-there are just too many people that had to be involved inorder to make this ‘work’….and he isn;t talking! IF, as he says, he wanted to satify his clients at any cost…then WHY didn;t he hire the people needed to actually DO a REAL business, instead of a Ponzi business?!
this is too bad….not for him…but for all those people who lost their life savings, at the same time this country discovered it too, had been ‘scammed’ , by people given the same responsibilites with our money—-yet chose to steal it from us..instead…
For the first time in my lifetime, it is not only the poor people that got screwed……hopefully the moral conscience of this country will now think twice about using the word ‘NO’ for people who have to work twice as hard to get something handed to others on a silver platter…sometimes it takes losing eveything to understand what ‘moral’ and ‘compassion’ and ‘being human’ with others, really means…
I read yesterday the justice department is working hard to bring down *everyone* involved in this scheme. The article said with that much money involved—it’s highly unlikely that he was the sole perpetrator of the scam. Look for dozens to be brought up on charges in the coming months…including his wife who at first was not under investigation, but now with 70M in assets being in her name, feds are saying, "Wait a minute, something is fishy here!" (oh, you think???)
So he’s pleading guilty and possibly going to get 150 gazillion years in prison…but you know he’s going to a cushy Federal penitentiary, he’ll probably have his own cell, clean sheets everyday and cable tv for free!! There is no way they will send him to Rikers, Sing Sing, Soledad…
"Bernard Madoff feels sorrow and shame at what he has done" …. a quote from the news. Uh, WRONG ! Bernard Madoff feels sorrow and shame THAT HE GOT CAUGHT !!!
I heard a very interesting statement from one of his ruined investors, they are filing a suit with the government stating that they paid taxes all these years on their supposed earnings and investments, but, in fact, there WERE no investments because there was no money there, so they should get the taxes back that they paid.
Hmmm, is that plausible ? Is this a way for these people to get something back ? I’ll be curious to hear how tis turns out.
I watched that interview too—on CNN—one of Madoffs’ accountants! He said he lost everything too…but that he and other accountants are delving into this idea…and I got the impression that they KNOW they can only go back 3 years..but they are going to try and lobby to go back even further—-and get this—on Madoff’s tax returns, as well! Because? He paid taxes on phantom income too!
What is ‘right’ and what is ‘correct’ are often two different things. But in this case, what is ‘right’ is for the courts to take custody of the money—-as they do in every other criminal case when the perp gets arrested—-put the money into an escrow account until the investigation is complete—then dish it out to the people who it was stolen from—-as they do with the stolen goods of every other criminal case!
Don’t think he needs the $200 - he still might want to steal it!!