Madoff In Jail

His acquaintances depict him as a man who loves to be adulated. Bernard Madoff, the person who organized the biggest financial fraud in history, whose worth is estimated at 65 billion dollars, was bold enough to exclusively accept investors who could prove that they were used to finance charity organizations.

However, yesterday, while he was appearing before Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan for his “plea-bargaining,” Bernard Madoff, stiff as a ramrod and kind of feeling uncomfortable in his charcoal-grey suit, wasn’t quite so proud. On two occasions, he was summoned by the judge to “speak louder.” His plea-bargaining was accepted and the judge ordered at the same time his immediate imprisonment. The judge’s sentence will be delivered on June 16th. His lawyer, Ira Sorkin, pleaded for an extension of the release on bail, but the judge thought that he might try to escape. “He can escape, he has the possibility to escape, […] I’m ordering the cancellation of the release on bail,” the magistrate declared, welcomed by a wave of “hurray” from the crowd and clapping from around twenty present victims. “Thank you Mr. Litt [the attorney, Ed.],” one of them yelled before rapidly being called to order by the judge.

“The plot.” A few seconds after the decision was made, Madoff was handcuffed and rapidly escorted by several policemen out of the courthouse. Three months after he confided to his sons his pyramidal fraud, the financier, who was publicly taking the floor for the first time, pleaded guilty to fraud, swindling, laundering, and falsifying evidence. This plea bargaining puts an end to the hope of a trial in due form.

When it was about time for him to speak, Madoff read a declaration that simply started with: “Your Honor, for numerous years, before I was put under arrest on December 11th, 2008, I’ve run a Ponzi scheme.” He then considered himself “grateful for this first opportunity to publicly speak about this crime for which he is deeply sorry and ashamed.” “I knew when I started this fraud that what I was doing was bad, I was even feeling like a criminal.” Madoff then declared that he got himself involved in this fraudulent business in the early ‘90s, whereas the attorney believes it was already in action in the early ‘80s. “The country was then facing a recession and that was quite problematic for the investors,” the financial funambulist said to justify himself. For many years, Madoff affirmed to his customers that he had a policy of diversification of his investments. “I actually never carried out an investment,” he summed up. “The bank transfers from New York to London and vice versa were just used to give the false idea of financial activities.” On several occasions, he pointed out that a part of his activities were “legitimate, profitable and prosperous,” under the incredulous eyes of his victims who were sitting behind him on boxes at the back of the hall and shaking their heads.

Obviously, Madoff gave the impression that he was trying to protect his close family, especially his wife, who benefited from several of his payments, including his two sons and his brother, who were running a part of his financial transaction, by exempting all of them from any involvement in his activities. A detail that didn’t escape the victims. “I don’t understand why the plot is not mentioned in this plea-bargaining. To organize such a swindle, he did need an army of people,” George Nieremberg, one of the victims, said. Feeling exasperated, the latter started to ask Madoff, as he was coming close to him, if he had had the time to “look at his victims.” For the first time since the beginning of his trial, the financier briefly turned to them. The judge immediately ordered Nieremberg to get back to his lectern and to go on with arguments.

Some possible accomplices. Several victims opposed the plea-bargaining. “Thanks to this trial, we are going to show the people of this country and the rest of the world that our nation is currently facing difficulties and that we find the people that are responsible. This would also enable us to dissect this fraud,” Maureen Ebel pleaded. The attorney tried to allay their fears, assuring that the investigation would continue in order to get their money back (950 million to date has been recovered) and chase, if necessary, some possible accomplices. The assurances weren’t very convincing.

Curiously, only twenty victims had come and were taking up a small part of the hall that was much more invaded by journalists from all over the world, many who had been cooling their heels in front of the courthouse since 6 o’clock a.m. Bennett Goldworth, an estate agent whose savings vanished in the Madoff scam, had only come in hopes that he would see the crook leave the courthouse with handcuffs around his wrists. “I’m glad that he’s at last going to prison,” he said as he was leaving the courthouse, “even if this means that I won’t get my money back. At the age of 52, I have to go back and live at my parents’, start a career again, whereas the economy’s going through a crisis. What a promising future!”