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GLOBAL conman Bernard Madoff has been sentenced to the maximum 150 years in prison in the US for his multibillion-dollar fraud scheme.
US District Judge Denny Chin handed down the sentence in New York today.
Defence attorneys had sought 12 years, while prosecutors wanted the maximum. The federal probation department had recommended 50 years.
The judge called the fraud “staggering” and noted that it spanned more than 20 years.
He said ”the breach of trust was massive”, FoxNews has reported.
Madoff, a 71-year-old former Nasdaq chairman, pleaded guilty to securities fraud and other charges in March and has been jailed since.
He has apologised to his family and to the victims of his multibillion-dollar fraud scheme.
He said at his sentencing that he “will live with this pain, this torment, for the rest of my life”.
Madoff said that he dug himself “deeper into a hole” as the scheme progressed.
Harsh punishment
Earlier, he listened as victims of the scheme spoke of their losses and called for harsh punishment, the Associated Press reported.
The nine victims who addressed the hearing included Carla and Stanley Hirschhorn, who said the loss of their life savings was “a living nightmare that we can’t wake up from”.
Another victim, Tom Fitzmaurice, told the court: “He stole from the rich. He stole from the poor. He stole from the in between. He had no values.
“He cheated his victims out of their money so he and his wife Ruth could live a life of luxury beyond belief.”
At the time of Madoff’s arrest late last year, fictitious account statements showed thousands of clients had investments worth $US65 billion ($80 billion).
But investigators said he never traded securities, and instead used money from new investors to pay returns to existing clients.
Madoff was ordered to forfeit about $US170 billion – the amount prosecutors said flowed through the main account used to operate the scheme – not an actual amount of assets held.
The Government will probably only be able to recoup a fraction of it.
