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Jailed Bernie Madoff Makes Everyone Happier
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 13, 2009
Modified Mar 13, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 13, 2009
Modified Mar 13, 2009
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After fraudulent investor Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 criminal charges, the federal judge opted to send him to jail which prompted Madoff's victims to clap. U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin said, "He has incentive to flee, he has the means to flee, and thus he presents the risk of flight. Bail is revoked.” (Also, seeing Madoff in handcuffs was considered a highlight.)
Now, instead of residing in his $7 million Upper East Side penthouse, Madoff is at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan, as prisoner No. 61727-054, living in a 8-foot-by-7½-foot cell; the Post reports, "Madoff, 70, will be awakened when the lights are switched on at 6 o'clock every morning, and will sit down to breakfast at 6:30 a.m. If he bothers to get an honest job for a change, Madoff will start work in the jail at 7:45 a.m." And, perhaps stating the obvious, one person who served 10 years in federal prisons for securities fraud told Bloomberg News, "Madoff isn’t going to be real popular. All the guys there will have wives or parents who are losing their homes or their jobs or who can’t send money to them anymore. Everybody’s going to be blaming Bernie."
Some of Madoff's victimized "clients" declined to speak out at yesterday's hearing because they were happy that he was being jailed. However, Maureen Ebel told the judge the guilty plea shouldn't be accepted, "If we go to trial, we will show people in this struggling country and the world who look to us as the global moral leader, that we will hold all people accountable. We can show the world that all crimes, all crimes, including crimes of greed, can be dissected, ruled upon and punished." (Judge Chin responded that the feds are continuing their investigation.) And the next on deck for scrutiny may be Madoff's wife Ruth and other family members.
As for disputes between Madoff's version of events and what the feds believe happened, the NY Times explains, "Typically, shortly before sentencing, the court conducts what is called a Fatico hearing, where the government and the defense lawyers try to resolve factual disputes remaining in the case." Madoff will be sentenced on June 16.
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Bernard Madoff
jail
metropolitan correctional center
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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