Published: March 12, 2009
NEW YORK: Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday to all the charges against him and expressed remorse for a vast Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of billions of dollars.
Standing before Judge Denny Chin in U.S. District Court in New York, Madoff was sworn in and reminded that he was under oath. Noting that he had waived indictment, Judge Chin asked, "How do you now plead," guilty or not guilty? "Guilty," Madoff responded.
His formal confession will cost him his liberty.
Rather than letting him remain free on bail and return to his apartment in New York, Chin ordered Madoff immediately jailed as he awaited sentencing.
"He has incentive to flee, he has the means to flee, and thus he presents the risk of flight," Chin said. "Bail is revoked."
Multimedia
Big CIty: Pity, with no leniency, for the schemer
Madoff pleads guilty to vast fraud and is jailed
For Sweden, tiny Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are too big to fail
Japanese finance minister backs U.S. call for more stimulus
The 11 counts of fraud, money laundering, perjury and theft to which Madoff pleaded guilty carry maximum terms totaling 150 years. Sentencing was scheduled for June 16.
Dressed in a gray suit, Madoff, 70, appeared in a courtroom packed with journalists, lawyers and some of his victims.
Flanked by his lawyers, he stood up and began to answer questions from Chin about whether he understood the ramifications of his guilty plea, whether he was satisfied with his legal representation and whether he was competent to enter the guilty plea.
At first, Madoff's voice was barely audible as he acknowledged the litany of crimes.
"Try to keep your voice up so that I can hear you, please," Chin said. At one point, Madoff asked for water.
In recounting how he sustained a 20-year fraud whose collapse erased as much as $65 billion that his customers thought they had in their accounts, Madoff said, "I believed it would end shortly and I would be able to extricate myself and my clients from the scheme."
He added, "I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for what I have done."
Although Madoff admitted to operating what he called "a Ponzi scheme through the investment advisory side of my business," he said all other aspects of his enterprise, operated by his sons and brother, were legitimate, profitable and successful.
The court session was the first time since his arrest by U.S. government agents on Dec. 11 that Madoff had spoken publicly about how he ran what was perhaps the largest fraud in Wall Street history, a global scheme that ensnared hedge funds, nonprofit groups and celebrities, and wiped out the life savings of thousands of people.
During the 75-minute court hearing, a few victims were permitted to speak up against accepting the plea.
One was Maureen Ebel, who said: "If we go to trial we have more of a chance to comprehend the global scope of this horrendous crime. We can hear and bear witness to the pain that Madoff has inflicted on the young, the old and the infirm."
It remains unclear where the billions of dollars that his victims lost has gone, and whether those victims will ever see any meaningful restitution. Prosecutors have said the government is seeking $170 billion in forfeited assets from Madoff, apparently representing all the money that ran through Madoff accounts traceable to the crimes.
A court-appointed trustee liquidating Madoff's business has so far only been able to identify about $1 billion in assets to satisfy claims.
This week, the government said Madoff had 4,800 client accounts at the end of November supposedly containing $64.8 billion in customer savings. But the government said Madoff's business "held only a small fraction of that balance."
As Madoff arrived at the courthouse early Thursday morning, helicopters buzzed overhead and television news trucks lined the street. The day's events marked a coda in the saga of a man whose name has become shorthand for an entire era of greed and deceit on Wall Street.
With the promise of steady, unwavering returns, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities enticed thousands of investors including such prominent people as Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, the Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Sandy Koufax and a charity run by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel.
This week, the government offered more details on how Madoff ran the fraud that had financed his lush lifestyle of a beachfront mansion in the exclusive Hamptons area on Long Island, east of New York City; an estate near the French Riviera; and yachts in New York, Florida and the Mediterranean.
Prosecutors said that Madoff concocted an elaborate charade to make it seem like he was running a legitimate investment business when, in reality, "no such business was actually being conducted."
He hired employees with little training or experience and directed them to generate false monthly account statements.
He shuttled millions of dollars between banks in New York and London to make it seem as if he was "conducting securities transactions in Europe on behalf of investors when, in fact, he was not conducting such transactions," prosecutors said.
And they said he repeatedly lied to regulators from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to cover up his scheme.
Madoff pleads guilty to vast fraud and is jailed
By Diana B. Henriques and Jack HealyPublished: March 12, 2009
NEW YORK: Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday to all the charges against him and expressed remorse for a vast Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of billions of dollars.
Standing before Judge Denny Chin in U.S. District Court in New York, Madoff was sworn in and reminded that he was under oath. Noting that he had waived indictment, Judge Chin asked, "How do you now plead," guilty or not guilty? "Guilty," Madoff responded.
His formal confession will cost him his liberty.
Rather than letting him remain free on bail and return to his apartment in New York, Chin ordered Madoff immediately jailed as he awaited sentencing.
"He has incentive to flee, he has the means to flee, and thus he presents the risk of flight," Chin said. "Bail is revoked."
Multimedia
Big CIty: Pity, with no leniency, for the schemer
Madoff pleads guilty to vast fraud and is jailed
For Sweden, tiny Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are too big to fail
Japanese finance minister backs U.S. call for more stimulus
The 11 counts of fraud, money laundering, perjury and theft to which Madoff pleaded guilty carry maximum terms totaling 150 years. Sentencing was scheduled for June 16.
Dressed in a gray suit, Madoff, 70, appeared in a courtroom packed with journalists, lawyers and some of his victims.
Flanked by his lawyers, he stood up and began to answer questions from Chin about whether he understood the ramifications of his guilty plea, whether he was satisfied with his legal representation and whether he was competent to enter the guilty plea.
At first, Madoff's voice was barely audible as he acknowledged the litany of crimes.
"Try to keep your voice up so that I can hear you, please," Chin said. At one point, Madoff asked for water.
In recounting how he sustained a 20-year fraud whose collapse erased as much as $65 billion that his customers thought they had in their accounts, Madoff said, "I believed it would end shortly and I would be able to extricate myself and my clients from the scheme."
He added, "I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for what I have done."
Although Madoff admitted to operating what he called "a Ponzi scheme through the investment advisory side of my business," he said all other aspects of his enterprise, operated by his sons and brother, were legitimate, profitable and successful.
The court session was the first time since his arrest by U.S. government agents on Dec. 11 that Madoff had spoken publicly about how he ran what was perhaps the largest fraud in Wall Street history, a global scheme that ensnared hedge funds, nonprofit groups and celebrities, and wiped out the life savings of thousands of people.
During the 75-minute court hearing, a few victims were permitted to speak up against accepting the plea.
One was Maureen Ebel, who said: "If we go to trial we have more of a chance to comprehend the global scope of this horrendous crime. We can hear and bear witness to the pain that Madoff has inflicted on the young, the old and the infirm."
It remains unclear where the billions of dollars that his victims lost has gone, and whether those victims will ever see any meaningful restitution. Prosecutors have said the government is seeking $170 billion in forfeited assets from Madoff, apparently representing all the money that ran through Madoff accounts traceable to the crimes.
A court-appointed trustee liquidating Madoff's business has so far only been able to identify about $1 billion in assets to satisfy claims.
This week, the government said Madoff had 4,800 client accounts at the end of November supposedly containing $64.8 billion in customer savings. But the government said Madoff's business "held only a small fraction of that balance."
As Madoff arrived at the courthouse early Thursday morning, helicopters buzzed overhead and television news trucks lined the street. The day's events marked a coda in the saga of a man whose name has become shorthand for an entire era of greed and deceit on Wall Street.
With the promise of steady, unwavering returns, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities enticed thousands of investors including such prominent people as Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, the Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Sandy Koufax and a charity run by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel.
This week, the government offered more details on how Madoff ran the fraud that had financed his lush lifestyle of a beachfront mansion in the exclusive Hamptons area on Long Island, east of New York City; an estate near the French Riviera; and yachts in New York, Florida and the Mediterranean.
Prosecutors said that Madoff concocted an elaborate charade to make it seem like he was running a legitimate investment business when, in reality, "no such business was actually being conducted."
He hired employees with little training or experience and directed them to generate false monthly account statements.
He shuttled millions of dollars between banks in New York and London to make it seem as if he was "conducting securities transactions in Europe on behalf of investors when, in fact, he was not conducting such transactions," prosecutors said.
And they said he repeatedly lied to regulators from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to cover up his scheme.
Di pos oleh Arbain Muhayat pada 13 March 2009