The 11 counts of fraud, perjury carry maximum sentences totalling 150 years
New York Times 13 March 2009
(NEW YORK) Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty yesterday to all the charges against him in a vast Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of billions of dollars.
Standing before Judge Denny Chin in US District Court in Manhattan, Madoff was sworn in and reminded that he was under oath. After asking the defendant to keep his voice up - Madoff asked for water - and noting that he had waived indictment, Judge Chin asked: ‘How do you now plead,’ guilty or not guilty?
‘Guilty,’ Madoff responded. Dressed in a gray suit, Madoff, 70, spoke before a courtroom packed with journalists, lawyers and some of his victims.
The 11 counts of fraud, money laundering, perjury and theft to which he pleaded guilty carry maximum sentences totalling 150 years.
Judge Chin ordered that Madoff should be jailed pending sentencing on June 16.
The court session marks the first time since he was arrested by federal agents on Dec 11 that Madoff has spoken publicly about how he ran what was perhaps the largest fraud in Wall Street history, a global scheme that ensnared hedge funds, non-profit groups and celebrities, and devastated the life savings of thousands of people.
After his plea, Madoff was to answer questions about how he sustained a 20-year fraud whose collapse erased as much as US$65 billion that his customers thought that they had in their accounts. Judge Chin was then to announce whether the plea was accepted.
Some of Madoff’s victims are also expected to speak on whether the judge should accept Madoff’s guilty plea, and whether his US$10 million bail should be revoked.
But it remains unclear where the billions of dollars his victims lost has gone, and whether those victims will ever see any meaningful restitution.
Prosecutors have said that the government is seeking US$170 billion in forfeited assets from Madoff, apparently representing all the money that ran through Madoff accounts traceable to the crimes.
A court-appointed trustee liquidating Madoff’s business has so far only been able to identify about US$1 billion in assets to satisfy claims.
This week, the government said that Madoff had 4,800 client accounts at the end of November supposedly containing US$64.8 billion in customer savings. But the government said that Madoff’s business ‘held only a small fraction of that balance’.
As Madoff arrived at the courthouse early yesterday morning, helicopters buzzed overhead and television news trucks lined the street. The day’s events marked a coda in the saga of Madoff, whose name has become shorthand for an entire era of greed and deceit on Wall Street.
With the promise of steady, unwavering returns, Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities enticed thousands of investors including boldface names such as Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, the Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax and a charity run by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel.
This week, the government offered more details on how Madoff ran the fraud that had financed his lush lifestyle of a beachfront mansion in the Hamptons, an estate near the French Riviera and yachts in New York, Florida and the Mediterranean. Prosecutors said that Madoff concocted an elaborate charade to make it seem like he was running a legitimate investment business when, in reality, ‘no such business was actually being conducted’.
He hired employees with little training or experience and directed them to generate false monthly account statements.
He shuttled millions between banks in New York and London to make it seem as if he was ‘conducting securities transactions in Europe on behalf of investors when, in fact, he was not conducting such transactions’, prosecutors said. And they said that he repeatedly lied to regulators from the Securities and Exchange Commission to cover up his scheme. -- NYT
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Madoff pleads guilty to all charges
The 11 counts of fraud, perjury carry maximum sentences totalling 150 years
New York Times
13 March 2009
(NEW YORK) Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty yesterday to all the charges against him in a vast Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of billions of dollars.
Standing before Judge Denny Chin in US District Court in Manhattan, Madoff was sworn in and reminded that he was under oath. After asking the defendant to keep his voice up - Madoff asked for water - and noting that he had waived indictment, Judge Chin asked: ‘How do you now plead,’ guilty or not guilty?
‘Guilty,’ Madoff responded. Dressed in a gray suit, Madoff, 70, spoke before a courtroom packed with journalists, lawyers and some of his victims.
The 11 counts of fraud, money laundering, perjury and theft to which he pleaded guilty carry maximum sentences totalling 150 years.
Judge Chin ordered that Madoff should be jailed pending sentencing on June 16.
The court session marks the first time since he was arrested by federal agents on Dec 11 that Madoff has spoken publicly about how he ran what was perhaps the largest fraud in Wall Street history, a global scheme that ensnared hedge funds, non-profit groups and celebrities, and devastated the life savings of thousands of people.
After his plea, Madoff was to answer questions about how he sustained a 20-year fraud whose collapse erased as much as US$65 billion that his customers thought that they had in their accounts. Judge Chin was then to announce whether the plea was accepted.
Some of Madoff’s victims are also expected to speak on whether the judge should accept Madoff’s guilty plea, and whether his US$10 million bail should be revoked.
But it remains unclear where the billions of dollars his victims lost has gone, and whether those victims will ever see any meaningful restitution.
Prosecutors have said that the government is seeking US$170 billion in forfeited assets from Madoff, apparently representing all the money that ran through Madoff accounts traceable to the crimes.
A court-appointed trustee liquidating Madoff’s business has so far only been able to identify about US$1 billion in assets to satisfy claims.
This week, the government said that Madoff had 4,800 client accounts at the end of November supposedly containing US$64.8 billion in customer savings. But the government said that Madoff’s business ‘held only a small fraction of that balance’.
As Madoff arrived at the courthouse early yesterday morning, helicopters buzzed overhead and television news trucks lined the street. The day’s events marked a coda in the saga of Madoff, whose name has become shorthand for an entire era of greed and deceit on Wall Street.
With the promise of steady, unwavering returns, Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities enticed thousands of investors including boldface names such as Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, the Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax and a charity run by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel.
This week, the government offered more details on how Madoff ran the fraud that had financed his lush lifestyle of a beachfront mansion in the Hamptons, an estate near the French Riviera and yachts in New York, Florida and the Mediterranean. Prosecutors said that Madoff concocted an elaborate charade to make it seem like he was running a legitimate investment business when, in reality, ‘no such business was actually being conducted’.
He hired employees with little training or experience and directed them to generate false monthly account statements.
He shuttled millions between banks in New York and London to make it seem as if he was ‘conducting securities transactions in Europe on behalf of investors when, in fact, he was not conducting such transactions’, prosecutors said. And they said that he repeatedly lied to regulators from the Securities and Exchange Commission to cover up his scheme. -- NYT
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