Bernie Madoff plea accepted.

[Tsoprano]

.

[The General]

Bernie Madoff pleads guilty in Manhattan federal court to all 11 charges in $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

Superstar swindler Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday to engineering a $65 billion Ponzi scheme that destroyed the life savings of thousands of people.

Madoff entered guilty to pleas to all 11 eleven criminal charges and faces up to 150 years in prison - meaning he will almost certainly die behind bars.

Manhattan Federal Court Judge Denny Chin will decide if Madoff goes directly to jail for pulling off the biggest swindle in history - or is allowed to stay in his swanky E. 64th St. duplex until sentencing.
After spending what may have been his last night with his wife Ruth, Madoff left his home at 6:45 a.m.
Two black umbrellas shielded the 70-year-old crook from view as he left the building through a side door and slipped into the backseat of a silver SUV.

They could not shield Madoff from the scorn of New Yorkers outraged by the sheer scale of his crimes.
"Send him to the electric chair!" a passing driver screamed.

Madoff wore a bulletproof vest under his jacket, but the wife who has been by his side for 45 years was not with him.

As a news helicopter hovered overhead, his SUV inched into traffic and headed east toward the FDR Drive.
They arrived at the Manhattan federal courthouse at 7:20 a.m.

Flanked by four security guards, Madoff marched past legions of reporters and photographers - some from as far away as Brazil and Japan - who shouted out questions and snapped away.

Madoff was deaf to them all.

It's like "Britney Spears and her circus act, that and a Tupperware party," a U.S. Marshal said as he corralled the growing crowd.

Madoff entered the courtroom around 9:45 a.m. where some of his victims greeted him with glares.
Fifteen minutes later, Chin arrived. A few minutes later, Madoff said what everybody expected him to say: that he did it.

Before Chin decides what to do with him, Madoff will get an earful from at least 25 of his victims.
Outside, more Madoff victims braved the unseasonable cold to get a look at the monster who pilfered their life savings.

"He's an evil, evil person," said Cynthia Friedman, 59, of Jericho, L.I., whose family lost $14 million in life savings. "I wanted Mr. Madoff to see some of the faces of the people whose lives he destroyed."
"He needs to be put away for the rest of his life," added Debra Schwartz, 67, of Manhattan, who lost two-thirds of her savings to Madoff's mendacity.

Helen Chaitman, who lost everything, woke up at 5 a.m. to make the trip from Jersey.
"Justice means that Mr. Madoff goes directly to jail and stays there for the rest of his life," Chaitman, 67, said.

That could happen.

Chin could put him where the prosecutors want him - in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan - rather than under house arrest in his $7 million pad.

When Madoff was arrested in December, prosecutors estimated he stole about $50 billion. The amount increased as the investigation deepened. Now prosecutors want him to pay $170 billion in restitution.
His closest confidants, including his wife, brother and two sons, have not been charged with a crime. The feds haven't finished investigating them.

http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/03/12/2009-03-12_bernie_madoff_pleads_guilty_in_manhattan.html

[wtf]

March 12, 2009

A judge ordered disgraced financier Bernard Madoff jailed immediately pending sentencing after he pleaded guilty to 11 charges. He will be sentenced June 16.

Earlier, Madoff admitted he began operating a giant Ponzi scheme in the early 1990s in response to a recession. He said that he started the fraud but that he believed it would be short and he could extricate himself. "As the years went by, I realized my risk, and this day would inevitably come," he said. "I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for my crimes."

[JoshW]

If he was younger, it would have been interesting to see if he would go away for life, as it is, he actually might spend life in prison.

[wtf]

remember nick leeson, he is actually working for a bank again

so you never know

[bmw530i]

I am still shocked no 1 put a bullet in his head.

[Bluehorseshoe]

I'm surprised he just didn't leave the country. He had to see the end coming.

[Willie Bee]

They need to start putting these buttheads into general population. I've got no sympathy for this man.

[jjgold]

I am still wondering hwere all the money is??

[fiveteamer]

Only thing keeping him alive is being jewish right now. If he was anything else Mossad would have grabbed this guy up.

[sallysnax8]

They need to start putting these buttheads into general population. I've got no sympathy for this man.

damn right....put him in gen pop..we'll see how long that ****in jew lasts....he'd get shanked his first week there no doubt..he ****ing deserves to die.....