Madoff on 11 felony counts

[NickD 202]

From http://www.ecommerce-journal.com/news/1386...1_felony_counts just one of many, this was reported this morning.

"

<h1 class="title">150 year in prison can be prescribed to Madoff on 11 felony counts</h1>

March 11, 2009 - 8:07am | author: Petrony | Law aspects | News

150 years in prison. This is a sentence Bernard Madoff, 70, 4 faces per 11 felony charges including securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and perjury. While it may seem something in the nature of a sensation but actually there is nothing amazing in the case. Surely, it would be rather funny if it were not so sad. "The charges reflect an extraordinary array of crimes committed by Bernard Madoff for over 20 years," said Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin. "While the alleged crimes are not novel, the size and scope of Mr. Madoff's fraud are unprecedented."

At Thursday’s hearing in Manhattan court Madoff is expected to plead guilty but in fact several months could pass before he is sent to prison. It is up to judge to decide if Madoff’s plea should be accepted and whether he would be immediately dispatched to federal prison. Yet, prosecutors stated that Madof’s plea is not an end of the story. The investigators are determined to continue their probes as they need to ascertain that Bernard Madoff was the only person who participated in the fraud scheme. Therefore the investigators have not ruled out his sons nor his wife, Ruth. But Madoff insists that it was solely his fault.

While prosecutors seek to return money from Madoff’s scheme to investors so far the investigators recorded just $950 million in cash and securities. The smell of billions is not yet there. Meantime as we learned last week Ruth Madoff insisted that $7M Penthouse and $62M Cash she has are not related to Ponzi scheme run by her spouse.

Interestingly when Madoff was arrested in December his wife posted a $10 million bond. Ruth’s explanation to prosecutors was very interesting as she told this was the money out of the property inherited from her parents while her father’s will that is kept among the court files in Florida prompts he left her little more than some stock valued at $39,000 which she gave to her sister. Thus unless she can prove otherwise the luxurious apartments along with $62 million will be seized by the federal investigators.

Indeed, the first reports about Madoff’s crime that clang across the whole world last year were shocking. Perhaps investors who lost a great amount of their money can say that it serves him right. But we all are not ideal. Of course our transgressions may be not so terrible and large scale. Still, even investigators do not know for certain if Madoff committed his crime alone. So let everyone follow the latest reports on Madoff case with less partiality and more understanding."

What I don't know is if his actions are part of the reason that our 401K plan was robbed. But these fraud cases are really starting to pop up now, maybe Bush will be next with billions misplaced in Iraq. Still do not feel our money was burnt, but is in somebody else's pocket.