Madoff Plea Deal May Be In The Works

***UPDATE 8:50pm***

The New York Times reports that Madoff is expected to plead guilty at a plea hearing next Thursday.

The AP has more details on Friday's developments:

Bernard Madoff has taken steps that suggest he could plead guilty as early as next week to charges that he carried out one of the biggest financial frauds in history, lawyers said Friday. Madoff, 70, is waiving his right to have a grand jury hear the government's case against him, agreeing instead to be charged directly by prosecutors, a step defendants take when they are preparing to plead guilty in a case.

Late Friday, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin called on potential victims who wish to be heard at a Thursday plea hearing to notify the court a day earlier. Madoff could enter a guilty or not guilty plea that day, depending on whether he has reached a plea deal with the government.

A plea deal between Bernard Madoff and the US Attorney General's office in New York may be in the works.

The AG filed a notice of intent to file an information on Friday. This is the first step prosecutors often take when they believe a defendant, in this case Madoff, may waive his right to a grand jury indictment.

Typically, defendants waive their right to a grand jury indictment if a plea deal is near.

"Any such waiver of indictment strongly suggest that the parties are close to a plea bargain," said John Coffee, professor of law at Columbia University.

The US Attorney General had no comment. Next Friday is the deadline for prosecutors to bring an indictment against Madoff under the speedy-trials law.

The terms of a plea deal with Madoff, who allegedly perpetrated a $50 billion ponzi scheme, will be closely watched.

According to Coffee, the minimum charge would be one count of securities fraud, which carries of maximum of 20 years. "I would think there would be public outcry with only one count indictment, although that is what defense would like," Coffee said.

Madoff could also be charged with multiple counts of securities fraud--potentially one for every victim--which could result in a life sentence.

There is also the possibility Madoff will be charged with violating the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. Such a charge would be a way for the government to take possession of the $70 million Madoff's wife Ruth is now holding.

Under the RICO statute, from the moment any ill-gotten gains are received, the proceeds immediately become the property of the US government. This means that any profit from any Madoff dealings dating back to the beginning of the fraud would go to the government, including Ruth's holdings.

According to CNBCMadoff is scheduled for two court appearances next week: The first court appearance is in regards to a potential conflict of interest regarding his attorney, Ira Sorkin. The hearing will be on Tuesday. Madoff's arraignment is scheduled on Thursday at 10 am EST.

Madoff -- Notice of Intent to File an Information - Free Legal Forms

Comments

[indy100]

03:04 PM on 03/09/2009

Plea bargain??? Throw the book (or the shoe) at him! Take everything he has (it was paid for with other people's money) and let him spend his last years in prison. Maybe he'll make some new friends.

[Yarrr]

11:45 AM on 03/09/2009

Madoff looks like some villain from a Dickens novel.

[lunchlady]

10:16 AM on 03/09/2009

I won't be satisfied with any deal that allows him, or anyone else in on the deal, to have any sort of luxury for the rest of their lives. This employees, his family, his friends. All crooks deserve to be stripped of their ilgotten gains. That money has blood on it.

[fredsmilek]

09:18 AM on 03/09/2009

Plea? Let's see what happens. Fred Smilek is the acting president of the Society to Save Endangered Species. It was founded two years ago by Fred Smilek along with his two best friends Charles and Jonathan. http://www.fredjsmilek.com

[ilovevegas]

01:32 AM on 03/09/2009

It makes me sad, but not surprized that he will be treated different in our justice system. Jail is where he needs to be as well as his wife and sons. He has really done alot of harm. People have killed themselves after losing everything they worked so hard for. Madoff doesn't deserve ANY deal. Be held accountable and suffer the consequences.

[jdlund]

01:52 AM on 03/09/2009

If he gets a ridiculously nice deal then you can say he's being treated differently. Getting a deal itself is certainly not him being treated differently. Most criminals get a plea deal. Only a really small percentage of criminals actually go to trial. What plea a person gets depends largely on how much evidence the state has, how bad the crime is, how public the crime is and how likely a conviction at trial is. Here the state has very little reason to give Madoff a big deal. You'd be hard pressed to go out a cherry pick a jury that would acquit him given how solid the evidence is, how public this crime is and how much pain he caused. Again that doesn't mean that the prosecutor will demand a big prison sentence necessarily, but I doubt that this man will get that light a deal. There's too much political and public pressure to nail this guy and there is no reason not to. But no him receiving a deal is a sign of nothing besides the fact that our system loves plea deals for everyone from poor welfare thugs to upper class wall street barons.

[PoeticCommentator]

01:22 AM on 03/09/2009

What is going on?Tired of old song?Laws don't apply to those high.Little guy is left to cry..The world is crazy & system lazy.To protect average Joe.You & me & others we know..Some worried about Clinton & Monica, Ken Star distraction...Upset too but no need for action .Clinton '**&+$%#@! Monica but Bush "$%^^&&* us.Why did Clinton get more fuss? He left White House with his shame.Bush left leaving blame..On the guy before him & new guy in town...Am I the only one seeing smoke around.? Around The greedy.the mean &seedy..Now I hear again ...some want social security privitization...Fight this move across the nation...For Madoff,Wall Street & the phonies...Are working hard to enrich their cronies..I've said it once,I'll say it again...Run from privitization it's not your freind.Thousands of Madoffs around...They'll clean you out with no penny found..Money is power that will be seen. When Madoff is free to be money machine...Machine of his making. people's money for the taking..With friends in high places & people with 2 faces..We'll foot the bill,with distractions still...Beware of another Ken Starr in the brewing...:Like Rush and Hannity constantly stewing.Smoke screen
to keep from forging ahead.Telling all we made our own bed...Here I go again praying for the best...Come Americans you know the rest..As long as we're distracted a & fighting one another...We can't stand as sisters & brothers...Janina Jayme PoeticCommentator

[TXfemmom]

12:47 AM on 03/09/2009

His wife should be charged, as should his brother and his sons. There is no way they didn't know about this and assist in it and none of them should have two coins to rub together when it is all over.

[dwright]

04:24 PM on 03/08/2009

This guy and his wife should spend the rest of their days cleaning the toilets of those that they stole money from. I can't believe that only he is going to spend time in prison - his wife needs to go as well. They milked money out of their "friends" who now have lost their homes and are broke. IT is a shame that someone who steals a purse usually gets more time then someone who steals millions.

[BobSacomano]

01:43 PM on 03/08/2009

Is it just me or is this man actually a George Washington clone?

[City of Evil]

05:37 PM on 03/08/2009

It's spelled "Weisshaupt".

[Barbyrah]

08:57 AM on 03/08/2009

For me, this isn't about retribution. That's an old, nasty meme. What it is about...is transformation. Transformation of our society. Of our culture. Of our planet.
Which is why I agree: What happened - all of it, all of the relationships, institutions, activities, strategies - associated with the Madoff debacle need to rise to the surface and be acknowledged for what they are. Otherwise, it's just same old same old. And the root of the problem once again gets swept under the rug.
P.S. It's impossible to find a solution to a problem if the problem is never accurately defined. Impossible. So while that guy might go to jail for a while - hey, how original, right? - all of the mechanisms in place that allow/encourage this kind of thing to happen, not just in this instance, but over years, decades, centuries - not touched. Not even close. And while the "Swindler" storyline has been an interesting one to observe over time - lots of drama, lots of on-the-edge-of-your-seat drama - I'm personally ready to clean it up...and let it go. For good.
Wishing everyone well.

[GrainOSand]

03:56 AM on 03/08/2009

Prince produced a song titled, Lady Cab Driver. The song was on the 1999 album. As I read the article, the words of Prince came to mind.

“This one’s for the rich, not all of 'em, just the greedy --
The ones that don't know how to give”

The Republican strategy is clear. They want to paint opposition to their proposals of obstruction posing as righteous indignation over alleged class warfare by the Obama administration, as the working class, the middle class, and the impoverished class against the job creation class, the wealth creation class...the master class, who without...America would surely die (It’s 10:00, do you know where your master is?). Listen to their rhetoric of socialism, communism, and wealth redistribution -- Tired, tired, tired! That is what it is and that is all it is. The problem with such a framing of the issue is that their very language indicates that they have learned absolutely nothing from the results of the election, the results of the last eight years, or the results of the last forty years. The words unsustainable and sustainable are evident quite a bit these days in public discourse. Disunity is unsustainable over the desired life of a society. If the desired life of a society is infinite (we want to go on as a prosperous nation forever) then disunity assures that sound you hear (used to before digital audio) when a needle is abruptly pulled off of a vinyl record (the screeching halt sound).

[GrainOSand]

03:56 AM on 03/08/2009

II
Eventually, everything will unravel (come to a screeching halt) if the foundational principles are wrong, weak, and corrosive. To frame opposition and outrage concerning “more of the same” GOP prescriptions (that contributed mightily to the present state of affairs with Democratic help) in terms of a (meant to be) divisive classification of people (ones’ social class), is to suggest “stuck on stupid”. Faux populism or faux assumption of the “everyday people” mantle, when in reality you could care less and really do not identify with -- everyday people, is a leading cause of acid reflux.

It is reported that many of Madoff’s victims were rich. Any reasonable, loving, giving caring person’s heart hurts for them as it hurts for someone who does not have a pot to relieve themselves in or a boot from which to pour their yield. I am not a Democrat but this is the fundamental difference between the two Parties. You cannot hate the rich, but please do find indignation concerning the ways and means of those who distort what true wealth is, which is beyond money, which is beyond social class bestowed by mere humans. Your master is you and never let the society rob you of the glory beyond categorization. One second standing versus a thousand on the knees. You are going to die anyway, you might as well try living outside of what has been prepared for and fed to you -- for once in your life!

[GrainOSand]

03:55 AM on 03/08/2009

III
The inherent flaw of the idea of the paparazzi, is that they distort the humanity of the humans they seek to wrap in celebrity towards making a profit. They distort and corrupt the idea of success. They make excellence or mastery of craft a very cheap thing, a circus, a spectacle...a distortion and a distraction. It is no wonder that many artists take issue with the practice of photography turned polluted profession. I could care less what DaVinci was doing in his spare time. His product is his interest to me and as long as he was not doing something heinous, let the man have a private life. DaVinci, like artists of today, was a human being, as it is with the rest of us and none of us would like an intrusive camera coming out of our toilet bowl to get the million dollar shot (actually seven millionl; a million is not what it used to be).

It is in our divisive rhetoric that we find the clue to all that ails us. Ms. Huffington is well paid and I do not begrudge her one penny. John McCain and Mitt Romney are living large and I want them to continue. Oprah, Bill Gates, Tom Cruise, Warren Buffet the Sultan of Brunei, whoever, I have no problem with people who are rich, nor do I want them to become poor through giving their money to the poor. Democrats would do well to squash the GOP on this point.

[GrainOSand]

03:53 AM on 03/08/2009

IV
I cannot name companies here (moderation), but there are companies all over America, with hard working people earning their daily bread, hopefully while engaged in enriching, satisfying, and meaningful work. I wish those companies, populated by those people all the best, more than luck, success beyond the whim of a fickle marketplace. The CEO’s who run companies are not the enemy unless they are.

Capitalism, or the need to get paid is not evil. The elite schools are elite because they are engaged in endeavors of learning at the highest and deepest levels (we trust and hope). You must love knowledge, you must not fear taxing your mind with the complexities of that you do not know such that growth is achieved, this is a never-ending pursuit therefore it ceases being a pursuit and is just the way it is (institutions need to clue into this and make their offering more versus less accessible; the cost of higher education is killing this society in how it denies opportunity). Education is a must. There is no opposition to intelligence, logic, science, engineering...creativity that oozes from the brain...we like this. Let it continue.

[GrainOSand]

03:52 AM on 03/08/2009

V
It is always the interpretation that leads us asunder. It is always the distortion that sullies the possibility -- look no further than religious interpretation of divine being to see this in all of its’ glory (no pun). The GOP have not learned that class as a distinction of relevance is over in this American society. Alice Cooper said, School’s out for the summer. School has closed down on the GOP and will not be accepting any future students. Those remaining in the old school of thought are on lockdown of their own device. I find a still evident desire by the GOP to seek to rule through division funny, since they are the very ones who say everything changed on 9/11. Except when they said and say that, they meant and mean, everything changed in terms of the manipulation and subversion of rule of law, and the erosion of civil liberties, and their ability to seize upon an opportunity (like a rabid hyena) to solidify power into the next millennium based on fear mongering (Disaster or Illusion Capitalism) -- “While you were catatonic we made some changes.”