his fruit cup for a pack a smokes, because it looks like Mr. Madoff is headed to the big house. We talked about Madoff quite a bit when the news broke. I would say that the majority 
of Trader's Blog visitors screamed that Madoff should be locked up, but that the investors he worked with should have never expected such outlandish returns.
CNN just broke this story...
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Madoff sentenced to 150 years - Federal judge gives maximum sentence to Ponzi mastermind following his apology and victims' request for life sentence.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A federal judge sentenced Bernard Madoff, the convicted mastermind of the largest and most sweeping Ponzi scheme ever, to the maximum sentence of 150 years in federal court Monday.
Judge Denny Chin of U.S. District Court in New York announced the sentence just moments after Madoff apologized to his victims.
"I live in a tormented state for all the pain and suffering I created," Madoff said. "I left a legacy of shame. It is something I will live with for the rest of my life."
Turning to face some of his victims, he addressed them directly: "Saying I'm sorry is not enough. I turn to face you. I know it will not help. I'm sorry."
Madoff said he was not asking for forgiveness and not offering any excuses for his behavior.
"How can you excuse betraying thousands of investors?" he asked. "How can you excuse deceiving hundreds of employees? How can you excuse lying to and deceiving your wife who still stands by you?"
Victims urged a judge to hand down the maximum life sentence against Bernard Madoff, the mastermind of the largest and most sweeping Ponzi scheme ever.
"We implore you to give the maximum sentence at a maximum prison for this deplorable low life," said one of the victims in court before Madoff spoke. "This is a violent crime without a tangible weapon."
Many of Madoff's investors were wiped out financially by the scam and sent letters to Judge Chin requesting he spend the rest of his life behind bars. Nine of the letter-writers were expected to speak in court on Monday.
Speaking on behalf of his wife and looking at Madoff, the victim said, "I have a marriage made in heaven. You have [a] marriage made in hell, and that's where you'll return. May God spare you no mercy."
The 150-year sentence is the maximum that federal prosecutors in New York requested, based on the number of Madoff's victims, the amount of money he stole and the extent of the damage he caused.
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To read the full story visit: http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/29/news/economy/madoff_prison_sentence/
Dear Friends;
The real issue here is the one never addressed: The SEC investigated Bernie Madoff & Co. many times; yet never found anything wrong. In 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 the SEC received detailed allegations from perceptive analysts, showing Madoff was conducting a Ponzi scheme. Yet the SEC always gave him and his cabal a clean bill of health. They systematically failed to see a shipwrecks movement onto the rocks.
The investors in his scam were good, decent people who relied on U.S. Government systems of checks and balances, like the SEC, to ferret out crooks and frauds. Honest investors, who worked hard all their lives, paid their taxes, saved their money and gave to the poor and charity. It is cruel to accuse them of greed. These are the fine people who built America through honest work and thrift. They are a blessing to all of us in this world; now they are cursed and ruined by this psychopath Madoff and his toadies who had to know what was going on in the firm.
The truth is that regulation was defective, built upon a foundation of erroneous practices, established by the USA government and its administrations, over many years. The trustee of funds given to Madoff was none other than Madoff; a fund construction that sealed off arms length dealing and transparency. Mutual funds and banks, regulated by sound U.S. Government policies and practices, can not operate this way. Their fund allocations are open for all honest regulators to perceive, a-priori.
Sadly, Madoff is more a symptom of failure than the cause of it all.
Termites, barnicles and worms will penetrate every cruise ship hull that isn't protected with anti-fouling coatings, eventually leading to catastrophic sinking of the ship with all hands and passengers lost at sea in stormy weather. Storms like 2008 will always come; wise provision against their ravages and mad captains misguidance must be done long before such vessels draw large, unsuspecting crowds.
It is time for US Government, Congress and the Obama administration to call in new architects, engineers and designers to establish 21st century laws and independent inspectors with authority to deny seaworthiness licenses to such captains as Madoff and his culpable crew. Catching the Captain (and crew) may send a message; we don't need any more messages, only good, sound prevention as the legacy of this affair.
There seem to be some who think that only the "liberal" boy whore house hustlers are the only ones running the show. How about the entire lot of "republicrat" jackals on the left and right who constitute the political leaderhip in this 'republic' (no founding document mentions the word 'democracy', wonder why? Perhaps it had to do with two tax rebellions that frightened the hell out of the aristocrat 'founding fathers' who had no intention of any common folk removing them from the throne of rulership they had taken from the british crown!). And of course let us not fail to give due credit to the 'patriotic' and loyal majority american voting public. Those crowd following, brain washed, flaccid minded flagons who continue to elect and re-elect those aforementioned jackals and who along with the central banking system created all this mess!
Happy fourth of July!
EDT
Chicago, Illinois
It's amazing that scams like these keep comming! I wonder what they think when it all starts? How can they see an end to it all?
Goldman Sachs gets away with screwing the tax payers and get rewarded - thanks to Uncle Ben and crew. Madoff going to jail 150 years without parole is totally unfair... he didn't kill anyone.
I invested in Bear Sterns and various banks - I had to live with my choice believing in the system. American justice at work again.
I'm moving to Asia!
HH
unbelievable, Madoff is taking all the blame himself. No conspirators? Where is the pursuit of justice?
The Federal Reserve is the largest and most the lsweeping Ponzi scheme ever.
The Swamp has eyes and they are wide open.....
Just compare the amount of money Madoff stole to what the Obama Adminstration is stealing from the tax payers.
150 years compared to ???????????
Bernie Madoff's biggest problem was that he was not a politician, he did not donate to Obama's campaign, or he was not a major bank CEO. Had he been any of these, his dollar figure was chump change. Look at how efficiently our politicians are ripping off every consumer out there, right now, all because President Hussein Obama says it cant remain the same. Well, the amount we and our children, and our grandchildren will pay for his change will amount to a lot more than Madoff ever took, and our government is the biggest ponzi scheme ever hatched.... they continue to take millions from those willing to work hard for it with a promise of a better future, but it is better for those who are greedy and want to do nothing while still living a comfortable american life. We need to see some of our politicians join madoff, with any luck, the next president will prosecute all the socialists who are promoting and voting away a once great America!
Madoff doesn’t have any $170 billion. He doesn’t have $17 billion. He doesn’t have $1.7 billion. I figure most of this cash is down the old rat hole…it never really existed. This is what happens when people can make money appear out of thin air. His ‘capital’ was all phony. And the people playing this rip off game with him flooded the world with at least $50 billion in false money. Of course, compared to the global central bankers who created well over $14 trillion in counterfeit money… I want Bernanke and Greenspan to be his cell mates. The moral Madoff teaches us is, if anyone is creative enough, controls sufficient portals for making Wall Street deals and gives sufficient money to enough powerful people, they can create money to their heart’s content. Before, destroying everything. The clients Madoff serviced all appear to be normal, intelligent people. However each has an interesting thing about them. For being wealthy, intelligent people they were more than willing to take Madoff's word for things and not once did any of these people refuse to believe that Madoff could produce the kinds of returns unheard of in all other investment fields. It's called greed folks and it took place on each side of the deal in this case. The investors were not stupid but they were blinded by GREED! Madoff got what he deserved.
I still say Madoff deserved a Nobel Prize instead of what he got...RE: my 1st comment at the beginning of these comments..Ron D
Ron,
Spend a few hours speaking with the people whose lives he ruined and you may change your outlook.....
Curtiss......It's caveat emptor when it comes to stock market investing!...Madoff could have taken his whole family and whoever else was involved with him, but he had the intestinal fortitude to shoulder the consequences by himself, which in my humble opinion was a very classy move and makes him a stand-up grifter....You want to talk travesty of justice, factor in and process how this illegitimate so called pres of ours has raped America, and continues to do so unabated!.....Bernie Madoff has more class in his little finger than obammy has in his whole body......Ron D
An Oscar for his portrayal as an upstanding honest successful trader....Perhaps. A Nobel Peace Prize....No Way. Grifters should not Chair the NASDAQ. I Do not support the current economic policy either. On that we can agree.
It's a case of how much is enough. At Bernie's age,a prison sentence of 10 years or 10 hundred years is a life sentences. So what? Big deal.
Where's the justice for Investment Bankers,Money Center Bankers,and Mortgage Lender's who have stolen trillions of dollars?
They ruined our economy-as well as the rest of the world's economy. They caused the loss of millions of jobs,the loss of millions of homes through foreclosure,the loss of savings, investments,pensions etc.etc..
Bernie Madoff is a punk compared to these criminals. When will they be prosecuted? When will they be jailed?
Bernie Madoff will have served his full sentence of 150 years before that happens.
Curtiss is right, the whole system pushes you towards this kind of scam. Interests are taxed in full, they are kept artificially low (to sustain what kind of growth?) and you can't possibly live out of them anymore. No wonder people tend to fall for such scams, particularly if they are presented as "stable".
Thank You. Kind regards.
The Senate Report
By: Theodore Butler | 29 June, 2009
This is an important report. It is likely that its recommendations will be implemented. The Subcommittee found that the CFTC failed to uphold commodity law, by allowing large index traders to hold long positions in wheat well above the proscribed speculative position limits of 6,500 contracts...
[snippet]
CFTC data has shown this to be the case in silver. Not only do the large short silver traders hold as significant a market share as the long wheat index traders, the position in silver is concentrated beyond debate. The current Commitment of Traders Report (COT) for positions held as of June 23, indicate the 4 largest traders as holding a net short position of 47.2% of all COMEX futures contracts, as well as almost 38% of equivalent world silver production. Over the last year, the CFTC has reported, via its Bank Participation Report, that 1 or 2 US banks have held a net short position of more than 33% of all COMEX futures contracts and 25% of world production.
The CFTC data clearly show that the large silver shorts have as dominant a market share as the long wheat index traders, but the silver shorts are concentrated to boot. That makes it doubly wrong and proves manipulation, a word the Senate report does not utter. By any reasonable and objective standard, there’s more of a problem in silver than there is in wheat. If the significant market share of the index traders pushed up wheat prices, then the significant and concentrated market share of the COMEX shorts pushed down silver prices.[end snippet]
full report: http://news.silverseek.com/TedButler/1246302473.php
Kaey has it absolutely right!
What Madoff did was wrong, but no way was he alone! This one not a one-man operation unobserved in the darkness. There were just too many other people who worked for and/or with him.
It's convenient to pin it on one person, but it isn't that simple. Others were involved, both inside and outside the Madoff organization. Let's get to the bottom of it and pursue justice.
News commentaries show trading rooms in the Madoff offices. What do they mean no trades were ever made? All of those Ivy League staff members must have been deaf, dumb, blind and stupid - or - complicit in the scam. The numbers are just too large to be hidden so easily for so many years without staff members being aware. Bernie may be the sacrificial goat, but he was definitely not alone. More investigation needs to be done to disclose accomplices/enabelers of this scheme.
More investigation needs to be done to disclose accomplices/enabelers of this scheme.
The people working for the SEC should jail for not stopping this years ago, after people told the SEC of the scam they did nothing.
why are they free,
the SEC was the accomplices/enabelers of this scheme.
Hoping for a 10% return doesn't seem to far out of line once you realize that annual inflation adjusted to include food and energy is around 10%. The sad part is that hoping to keep your purchasing power even over time REQUIRES a 10% annual growth and people are Forced to go looking for deals that are to good to be true. Madoff is a THIEF and A LIAR and deserves what he gets. I am simply just saddened that we as Americans think 10% is too good to be true when we are constantly and consisitently being robbed at a greater rate for simply holding the U.S. Dollar.
"In the absence of the Gold Standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value." --- Alan Greenspan
Beltway politicians beat the rap on a daily basis for doing worse than Madoff ever did!!!....When "**** on his ****" Barney Frank does not even get fired for running a little boy prostitution ring out of his basement it tells you everythig you need to know about the liberals in the White House....Bernie Madoff....for not ratting out his wife and family and cohorts, and for falling on his own sword, should have been given the Nobel Prize for the greatest scam artist that ever lived......WC Fields nailed it when he said..."You cannot cheat an honest man"... Each and every one of his victims were looking for something for nothing.......Ron D
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