A US judge is expected to sentence Madoff, 71, to an effective life term in prison. -- PHOTO: AP
NEW YORK - IT WAS a crime of epic proportions: a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that wiped out fortunes, drained retirement nest eggs, ruined charities and foundations, and even pushed some investors to commit suicide.
Serve time in medium security prison
'Madoff organised and led this fraud,' the prosecutors said in court papers on Friday arguing for a life sentence. 'Numerous clerical employees and others assisted.'
Madoff has said all along he did it on his own and has not named accomplices. Only his outside accountant has been charged.
BEFORE Madoff became a symbol of Wall Street greed, the former Nasdaq chairman had earned a reputation as a trusted money manager with a Midas touch.
Even as the market fluctuated, clients of his secretive investment advisory business - from Florida retirees to celebrities such as Steven Spielberg, actor Kevin Bacon and Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax - for decades enjoyed steady double-digit returns.
Six months after the scandal came to light, the battle lines over Bernard Madoff's punishment have been drawn. His lawyer insists 12 years in prison is enough. Prosecutors demand a 150-year sentence that would guarantee the 71-year-old spends his final days behind bars.
Some victims were expected to call for harsh punishment at the disgraced financier's sentencing on Monday in federal court in Manhattan. Ten have told US District Judge Denny Chin they wish to speak out in court.
Madoff also 'will speak to the shame he has felt and to the pain he has caused', his attorney, Ms Ira Sorkin, said in court papers.
'We seek neither mercy nor sympathy,' Ms Sorkin wrote. But the lawyer urged Judge Chin to 'set aside the emotion and hysteria attendant to this case' as he determines the sentence.
There was no shortage of emotion in recent e-mails and letters to the judge by victims.
Carla and Stanley Hirschhorn wrote that they lost their life savings - 'a living nightmare that we can't wake up from'. Ms Miriam Siegman expressed outrage 'at the spectacle of a man playing with his victims - thousands of them - who he knew were facing a kind of death, playing with them as a cat would with a mouse'. Prosecutors argued in court papers on Friday that federal sentencing guidelines allow the 150-year sentence. Any lesser term, they said, should at least be the equivalent of a life sentence.
'The sheer scale of the fraud calls for severe punishment,' the prosecutors wrote.
The jailed Madoff already has taken a severe financial hit: Last week, a judge issued a preliminary US$171 billion (S$248.9 billion) forfeiture order stripping Madoff of all his personal property, including real estate, investments, and US$80 million in assets his wife Ruth had claimed were hers. The order left her with US$2.5 million.
The terms require the Madoffs to sell a US$7 million Manhattan apartment where Ruth Madoff still lives. An US$11 million estate in Palm Beach, Florida, a US$4 million home in Montauk and a US$2.2 million boat will be put on the market as well. -- AP
