Despised financial fraud Bernie Madoff may have one last scam in him. And this one may be the biggest and most infuriating of all. He may sleaze his way out of rotting away his last days in prison. Loud bells and whistles went off that that could happen when Madoff suddenly dropped any pretense of a court fight and said he'd plead guilty to every fraud, perjury, and embezzlement charge that the Feds could slap on him.
For the official record Madoff will be hit with an 11-count indictment. The maximum penalty is 150 years in prison. But that's just on paper. Bells sounded louder that Madoff could evade his full prison due when U.S. District Judge Denny Chin who presumably will sentence Madoff said that he'd sharply limit the number of Madoff victims who get to shake their fist in the swindler's face and tell him what a rat he is during an upcoming court hearing. Bells sounded even louder when Chin said that he would take weeks maybe even months to sentence Madoff. Meanwhile Madoff will continue to piddle about in his $7 million dollar Manhattan penthouse.
But the Madoff bells really went off the decibel chart when prosecutors said that they'd tap Madoff for $170 billion in criminal forfeitures. That sounds impressive but it may not be anywhere near the amount of money that Madoff stole, squandered, or stashed away in vaults and mattresses, in dummy accounts, and with friends, associates, wives and mistresses. If Madoff does indeed dupe the government hangman, it won't be much of a surprise.
Prosecutors in recent years have arguably gotten much tougher on corporate chiselers than in years past. Federal sentencing commission stats show that white collar crooks are likely to do more time for fraud, embezzlement, forgery and counterfeiting than street crooks serve for possession of drugs or firearms. But that tells only part of the story.
The sentencing commission study did not break down the numbers of those sentenced by the size or scope of the crime or the wealth of the individual offender. Most of those that do time for white collar crimes are not the rich and famous, corporate big shots, but relative small fry cheats. The rub is that the judge ultimately decides what the sentence will be. The sentences they mete out in most cases are lighter than the maximum sentences allowed, sometimes much lighter.
The Madoff case is a near textbook example of the deferential treatment that judges and government prosecutors give to fat cat white collar crooks versus that given to the small fry white collar criminals and street criminals. Madoff was granted and easily made bail, is confined to house arrest, kept his penthouse's luxury furnishings, and had the court give a nod to his age and health considerations. Madoff's attorney have sought and got delays, and thwarted prosecutor's requests to have his bail revoked when they found he was sneaking jewelry to his relatives. All the while, the court and prosecutors have kept his legion of accusers and victims at arms length. And now Judge Chin has set no date for sentencing.
Madoff almost certainly will do some jail time. How much is anybody's guess. It's that guess that gives hint that Madoff may have one more scam up his sleeve, and that's scamming his sentence.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is How Obama Won (Middle Passage Press, January 2009).
Am I wrong?
:-)
Where do you draw the line? $10? $100? $100k? $1 billion? How much is a life worth?
"Life is not precious but is a part of evolving process, and those who do not evolve to a higher plane cannot expect compassion or continuance."
Life is not precious? So Madoff's life is not, but that of a potential suicide victim linked to the case is? You need to explain that to me.
"Only when there is a probability of error should the death penalty not be invoked, but when a crook like Madoff admits culpability he should be dispatched instantly."
In other words... everyone is guilty all the time until proven innocent. Sounds like a legal system the Taliban would support.
But, IMO, theft is theft. Theft from a theif does not make that theft right any more than theft from the wealthy makes that theft right.
I think what makes Madoff so infuriating to the wealthy is that he was pretty much their karmic payback for how some of his investors attained their own wealth.
It will be interesting to see if Madoff can beat that.
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The judge can't set a sentencing date until after Madoff either pleads guilty or is found guilty. It's one of those pesky little details in the Constitution.
His wife hasn't been arrested, nor his family members...so no trouble so far. Now the judge will "take a long time" surprise surprise.
Martha Stewart was the token rich prisoner/person of the decade, not much evidence since that the rich live under the law of the US.
The teeth have been taken out of our law enforcement and in return they were given battering privileges amongst citizens.
Our regulatory agencies are so awash in payola that no one dares do their job. You couldn't dynamite the SEC to even look at Madoff while the red flags flew in their faces for 10 yrs.
So, do I think Madoff will pay a just price or receive heavy prison time? Nope.
Obama doesn't have enough hours in the day to jack up enforcement and re-regulate, the horse is so far out of the barn, it's a father by now.
There is an odor coming from the whole timing of the Madoff thing, the casualness of it all...almost like it is another red herring the powers that be point to while they pull a dirtier stunt.
Welocme to NYC the home of multi billion dollar cover ups. The SEC knew about this since 1992. Do you think that we do not have criminals that are Judges, Lawyers, FBI agents, SEC bosses.?
Please google the above and welcome to the real world of NYC. The Madoff ponzi has been covered up for a long time and Madof will plead guilty but will not tell where all the rest of the billion s are. Even if he paid back some billions to investers there is plents of billions that are left and you will soon realize the NYC juctice system is at times as corrupt as the worse third world country.
I know there is another global multi billion dollar fraud that i know of with 100% proof that the AG office and others covered up. I tried to expose and realized that NYC is the place to do multi billion dollar scams because this is the place that they get covered up.
:-)
He'll get minimum concurrent sentences on all eleven counts, spend the time at ClubFed working on his suntan and be out on the street again within five years.
Meantime, his co-conspirators and enablers will keep all the money he stole, so they'll take care of him when he gets out.