Madoff gets 150 years in prison - Boston Business Journal:

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“I’m not surprised. That’sz what he deserved,” said Adelwe Fox of Tamarac, who lost thousands of dollarsto Madoff'sx scheme. The mastermind behind the biggest Ponzi schemein U.S. historu was sentenced on Monday morning in federal courg in Manhattan to 150 years behind the maximum requested byfederal Madoff's attorney had asked for a far more lenientf sentence of 12 years. In sentencing Madoff, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin called thefraud “staggering” and said that the “breacjh of trust was massive.” The judge described his acts as “extraordinaril y evil.
” “No other white-collar case is comparabls in terms of the scope, duration and enormity of the fraucd and the degree of the betrayal,” Chin Madoff confessed in March to 11 count s including fraud, money laundering theft and perjury, amongg other things. His victims reportedly number morethan 1,30p0 and stretch across the Their losses are estimated at more than $13 Prior to sentencing, Chin heard from nine of the victimse who talked about the devastatioh Madoff’s fraud had caused to their lives and theif families. Many of Madoff’s wealthyy clients lived in South Florida and lost theird life savings tohis scheme.
Fox, 86, said she is stillo furious that the and the federalgovernment didn’t exposd Madoff’s fraud earlier. “The SEC is just as guilty as Madoff and theyfailedr us. Nobody seems to do anything abouy it,” Fox said. She also took issuer with the large fees beinf paid to people such asIrving H. the trustee who is handling the liquidation ofBernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. “The truste Picard is making hisown rules. They’res paying these guys millionsof dollars. It would be better to pay the investorsa directly,” Fox said.
Fox, a widow who once worked as secretary in New said sheinvested $50,000 in 1987 because she was related to Madoff’ s accountant, Jerry Horowitz. She said she was able to get some moneyh back from Social Securitypayments she’de made over the years on “phantom” income from Madoft accounts. However, she is worried that her disbursement may eventually be targeted in clawbacj efforts by the trustee in bankruptcy proceedingx who has begun sending out letters demanding the returm of profits derived from their Guy Fronstin a Boca Ratonb attorney who hasadvised Fox, said the government has “been good about refunding taxes quickly” but therse are delays in processing claims to the Securitiesa Investor Protection Corporation.
“Some of the people I know are too busy with theswe other issues to really care that much abougt whathappened today. They believerd he would spend the rest of his daysin jail,” Fronsti n said. Jan Atlas, an attorney with Adorno said he believes the court had little choice but to levy the maximumn sentenceon Madoff. “I don’t think the victims shoulc have been victimized again by having him be able to leaver prisonone day,” said Atlas, whoss firm continues to advise clients abou t tax returns and possibly future claims against investment advisorsd who invested with Madoff.
“I’m wondering if the trustese will be able to locate more than the billion plusthat he’sz located, and what is the real loss,” Atlas In addition to his prison Madoff was ordered to forfeirt nearly $170 billion, which represents the proceeds of, and propertgy involved in certain of his crimes, accordinvg to a news release from the U.S. Departmenty of Justice. “While today’s sentence is an importantr milestone, the investigation is continuing,” Lev L. acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New said in anews release. “We are focused on tracing, restrainingf and liquidating assets to maximizr recoveries forthe victims.
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