Madoff pleads guilty to $50-bn fraud, jailed
March 12th, 2009 - 11:09 pm ICT by IANSWashington, March 12 (DPA) Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff will go to jail after admitting in court Thursday to a $50-billion fraud that entwined hundreds of investors around the world and has made him the poster-child of Wall Street greed in the current financial crisis.
Madoff pleaded guilty to all 11 criminal counts, telling the lower Manhattan federal court that he was “deeply sorry and ashamed,” according to broadcaster CNBC. Judge Denny Chin accepted the guilty plea and said Madoff would go to prison until he is sentenced June 16.
Madoff’s lawyer Ira Sorkin Tuesday said the investor would plead guilty after failing to reach a plea deal with prosecutors. The 70-year-old investor has been under house arrest since January at his luxurious Upper East Side Manhattan home on $10 million bail.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has estimated Madoff could face up to 150 years in prison. He was charged with securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, three counts of money laundering and filing false statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Madoff was arrested in December for allegedly running a $50- billion pyramid “Ponzi” scheme, under which he paid handsome dividends to investors over 20 years by continually collecting fresh funds from new clients.
His victims included celebrities, charities, universities and individual investors around the world.
- Madoff jailed, pleads guilty to massive fraud in court - Mar 13, 2009
- Madoff faces 150-year sentence after guilty plea - Mar 11, 2009
- Trustee charges HSBC with funnelling disgraced Ponzi King Madoff's massive fraud - Dec 06, 2010
- Bernard Madoff's son, Mark, found dead on second anniversary of father's arrest - Dec 11, 2010
- Ponzi king Madoff paid nine billion dollars to pals before his arrest - Jun 22, 2010
- 'Madoff's lawyer tells judge 12 years in jail would be fair punishment' - Jun 24, 2009
- Ponzie King Madoff's possessions auctioned in New York - Nov 14, 2010
- Bernie Madoff Will Have Private Service for Son - Dec 15, 2010
- Madoff enters federal prison - Jul 15, 2009
- Madoff returns to prison cell after hospital treatment - Dec 31, 2009
- Madoff Guilty of Fraud - Mar 11, 2009
- Ponzi king Madoff will not appeal against 150-year prison sentence - Jul 10, 2009
- Madoff Scandal Whistleblower Comes Up With New Memoir - Mar 02, 2010
- Madoff aide Bongiorno released on bail - Jan 08, 2011
- Two former employees of Bernard Madoff arrested - Nov 19, 2010
Tags: bernard madoff, cnbc, false statements, federal bureau of investigation, guilty plea, handsome dividends, house arrest, individual investors, judge denny chin, lower manhattan, mail fraud, plea deal, ponzi scheme, poster child, securities and exchange commission, securities fraud, sorkin, upper east side manhattan, wall street greed, wire fraud