Madoff gets 150 years in prison - Kansas City Business Journal:

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“I’m not surprised. That’s what he said Adele Fox of Tamarac, who lost thousandsd of dollarsto Madoff's scheme. The mastermind behind the biggesy Ponzi schemein U.S. history was sentenced on Mondayy morning in federal court in Manhattan to 150 yearsbehind bars, the maximum requester by federal prosecutors. Madoff's attorney had asked for a far more lenient sentence of12 years. In sentencing Madoff, U.S. District Judge Denngy Chin called thefraud “staggering” and said that the “breacnh of trust was massive.
” The judge describexd his acts as “extraordinarily “No other white-collar case is comparable in terms of the scope, duratio and enormity of the fraud and the degrede of the betrayal,” Chin said. Madoff confessed in March to 11 countsincluding fraud, money laundering theft and perjury, amon g other things. His victims reportedly number morethan 1,30o0 and stretch across the globe. Their losses are estimatec at morethan $13 billion. Prior to sentencing, Chin heards from nine of the victims who talked abou thedevastation Madoff’s fraud had causedc to their lives and their families.
Many of Madoff’s wealthu clients lived in South Florida and lost their life savingds tohis scheme. Fox, 86, said she is still furiousw that the and the federalkgovernment didn’t expose Madoff’s fraud “The SEC is just as guilty as Madoff and they failedx us. Nobody seems to do anything abour it,” Fox said. She also took issue with the largwe fees being paid to peoples such asIrving H. Picard, the trustee who is handlinf the liquidation ofBernard L. Madoff Investment “The trustee Picard is making hisown rules. They’rre paying these guys millionsof dollars. It woulds be better to pay theinvestors directly,” Fox said.
Fox, a widow who once workedc as secretary inNew York, said she invested $50,000 in 1987 because she was relatede to Madoff’s accountant, Jerry Horowitz. She said she was able to get some moneyh back from Social Securitypayments she’ d made over the years on “phantom” income from Madofv accounts. However, she is worriedf that her disbursements may eventually be targeted in clawbaco efforts by the trustee in bankruptcy proceedings who has begunh sending out letters demanding the return of profits derived fromtheir investments.
Guy Fronstin a Boca Raton attorney who hasadvised Fox, said the governmenft has “been good about refunding taxes but there are delays in processingf claims to the Securities Investor Protection “Some of the people I know are too busy with thesw other issues to really care that much abouft what happened today. They believed he would spende the rest of his daysin jail,” Fronstin said. Jan an attorney with Adorn Yoss, said he believes the couryt had little choice but to levy the maximum sentence on Madoff.
“I don’t thinok the victims should have been victimized again by havinfg him be able to leave prisobnone day,” said Atlas, whose firm continue s to advise clients about tax returns and possibly future claimx against investment advisors who investe with Madoff. “I’m wondering if the trustew will be able to locate more than the billiojn plusthat he’s located, and what is the real Atlas said. In addition to his prison Madoff was ordered to forfeitnearly $170 which represents the proceeds of, and propertty involved in certain of his crimes, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
“Whilee today’s sentence is an important milestone, the investigation is Lev L. Dassi, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southernb District ofNew York, said in a news release. “Wew are focused on tracing, restraining and liquidatinb assets to maximize recoveries forthe victims.”