Ex-financier Madoff pleads guilty to all charges Disgraced investor jailed until sentencing, says ‘deeply sorry,’ ‘ashamed’

BREAKING NEWS
msnbc.com news services
updated 16 minutes ago
NEW YORK - Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday to all 11 felony charges brought by prosecutors in one of Wall Street’s largest investment swindles, telling the court he is “deeply sorry and ashamed” for his actions.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin accepted Madoff’s guilty plea and ordered him to jail until his sentencing takes place June 16, saying the 70-year-old has the means to flee and an incentive to do so because of his age. Applause broke out in the Manhattan courtroom after the judge’s announcement. Madoff’s crimes could result in a maximum prison term of 150 years.

Madoff’s guilty plea marks the first time he has spoken publicly about the charges against him. Reading a statement in the courtroom, Madoff admitted he began operating a giant Ponzi scheme in the early 1990s. He said he knowingly gave false testimony under oath to securities regulators and concealed his fraud by submitting audited reports to the SEC.

Madoff explained his scheme by telling the judge that he believed the fraud would be short-term and that he could extricate himself.

“I am actually grateful for this opportunity to publicly comment about my crimes, for which I am deeply sorry and ashamed,” Madoff told the court. “As the years went by, I realized my risk, and this day would inevitably come. I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for my crimes.”

Madoff entered the courtroom for his plea hearing shortly before 10 a.m. ET. But victims of his Ponzi scheme began arriving at court as early as 8 a.m., two hours before the hearing was scheduled to begin.

Adriane Biondo, 41, of Los Angeles, said five members of her family were affected by the fraud, including elderly relatives who were ruined. She said she went to court to see Madoff plead guilty and wanted the judge to send him to prison immediately. Since his arrest in December, Madoff has been under house arrest in his $7 million Manhattan penthouse.

In three months, Madoff has gone from a man known mostly as a pioneer of electronic trading in securities to an icon for disreputable money managers who live a life of affluence while fleecing those who entrust their life savings to their schemes.

The FBI claimed Madoff admitted to his sons months ago that his once-revered investment fund was all a big lie, a $50 billion Ponzi scheme that wiped out life fortunes, school trusts and charities and apparently pushed at least two investors to commit suicide.

The size of the scandal has made him an international symbol of greed and deception in difficult economic times. But it remains in dispute.

Prosecutors filed papers Tuesday saying Madoff’s investment company reported a total balance of $64.8 billion in November even though it actually had only a small fraction of that amount.

Investigators say the true amount lost by investors may be between $10 billion and $17 billion and the larger estimates by Madoff include the false profits prosecutors say he generated with tens of thousands of bogus account statements cataloguing steady profits.

So far, authorities have located only about $1 billion in assets.

In a hearing Tuesday, the judge said he had been contacted by clients of Madoff’s investment firm who complained — mistakenly — that he was benefiting from a plea deal. Prosecutors said there was no agreement that would have given him a shot at a lighter sentence in exchange for cooperating with investigators.

“There is no plea bargain here,” the judge said.

Despite the plea, investigators say they still would face the daunting task of unraveling how Madoff pulled off the fraud for decades without being caught. They suspect his family and his top lieutenants, who helped run his operation from its midtown Manhattan headquarters, may have been involved.

In court documents, prosecutors have indicated that low-level employees were in on the scam and may be cooperating.

Court papers say Madoff hired many people with little or no training or experience in the securities industry to serve as a secretive “back office” for his investment advisory business.

Prosecutors say he generated or had employees generate tens of thousands of account statements and other documents, operating a massive Ponzi scheme, a scam in which people are persuaded to invest in a fraudulent operation that promises unusually high returns.

The money Madoff received was never invested but was used by him, his business and others or, as occurs in Ponzi schemes, was paid out to early investors, prosecutors said.

Re: Ex-financier Madoff pleads guilty to all charges Disgraced investor jailed until sentencing, says ‘deeply sorry,’ ‘ashamed’

BS he's sorry and deeply ashamed! Just that he was caught!

If those were true, genuine feelings we would tell the courts where the money was. His sons can take care of his wife - she's not going to rot not living in their PH

Re: Ex-financier Madoff pleads guilty to all charges Disgraced investor jailed until sentencing, says ‘deeply sorry,’ ‘ashamed’

Wow.

Guess hes not seeing the pearly white gates....

Re: Ex-financier Madoff pleads guilty to all charges Disgraced investor jailed until sentencing, says ‘deeply sorry,’ ‘ashamed’

I am glad that the judge sent him to jail and not back to his penthouse.. this guy should rot in jail forever!

Re: Ex-financier Madoff pleads guilty to all charges Disgraced investor jailed until sentencing, says ‘deeply sorry,’ ‘ashamed’

This story is like a John Grisham novel..I feel terrible for all the people who worked so hard for their $......

Re: Ex-financier Madoff pleads guilty to all charges Disgraced investor jailed until sentencing, says ‘deeply sorry,’ ‘ashamed’

Re: Ex-financier Madoff pleads guilty to all charges Disgraced investor jailed until sentencing, says ‘deeply sorry,’ ‘ashamed’

I hate this man. He f ucked my family over and I lost my inheritance because of him.

Re: Ex-financier Madoff pleads guilty to all charges Disgraced investor jailed until sentencing, says ‘deeply sorry,’ ‘ashamed’

I hope he gets what he deserves in prison!

Re: Ex-financier Madoff pleads guilty to all charges Disgraced investor jailed until sentencing, says ‘deeply sorry,’ ‘ashamed’

Don't drop the soap Bernie!

POS!