Pleading Guilty to All Charges
Madoff Awaits Ruling on Bail
By DIANA B. HENRIQUES and JACK HEALY
New York TimesMarch 12, 2009Standing before Judge Denny Chin in United States District Court in Manhattan, Mr. Madoff was sworn in and reminded that he was under oath. Noting that he had waived indictment, Judge Chin asked,
“How do you now plead,” guilty or not guilty?
“Guilty,” Mr. Madoff responded…
In answering questions about how he sustained a 20-year fraud whose collapse erased as much as $65 billion that his customers thought they had in their accounts, Mr. Madoff said, “I believed it would end shortly and I would be able to extricate myself and my clients from the scheme. As the years went by I realized that my arrest and this day would inevitably come,” Mr. Madoff said. “I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for what I have done.”
Although Mr. Madoff admitted to operating what he called “a Ponzi scheme through the investment advisory side of my business,” he said all other aspects of his enterprise, operated by his sons and brother, were legitimate, profitable and successful.
The court session marks the first time since his arrest by federal agents on Dec. 11 that Mr. 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, nonprofit groups and celebrities, and devastated the life savings of thousands of people…
Judge Orders Madoff Jailed After Guilty Plea
Tomoeh Murakami Tse and Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post
March 12, 2009An "ashamed" Bernard L. Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday morning to bilking investors out of billions of dollars in savings in the biggest fraud in Wall Street history, and a judge ordered him jailed immediately to await a June 16 sentencing date. The 70-year-old disgraced financier, who had been confined to his Upper East Side penthouse under a $10 million bail agreement since his Dec. 11 arrest, admitted running an extensive Ponzi scheme that wiped out charitable endowments and cost thousands of people their life savings.
The 11 felony charges carry a maximum sentence of 150 years in prison. The actual sentence is likely to be much shorter, but given Madoff’s age would likely still amount to a life sentence. Madoff pleaded guilty to securities fraud, investment advisory fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, false statements, perjury, false filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission and theft from an employee benefit plan.
"I am actually grateful for this opportunity to publicly comment about my crimes, for which I am deeply sorry and ashamed," Madoff told U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in a steady voice. He said he believed initially that the scheme would not last long and that he could extricate himself from it but realized as the years went by that he was in a risky situation and would eventually be caught. "I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for my crimes," Madoff told the court. He did not look at investors who spoke at the hearing…
This morning, Bernie Madoff pleaded guilty and admitted that he never invested any of the money that he took from clients as a part of his ponzi scheme. He was ordered directly to jail.
“I never invested the funds in securities as promised,” Madoff told Judge Denny Chin.
Over the past three decades, Madoff has collected millions and millions of dollars from 4,800 different people as a part of this ponzi scheme. Instead of investing the money for his clients, Bernie put the money into a savings account at Chase Manhattan. His clients never got their returns. Some of the people who trusted Madoff were rich and set for life, now they find themselves starting over with almost nothing.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.