Madoff’s lawyer requests 12-year sentence – Jun. 23, 2009 The claim is that this is an effective life sentence. NO IT IS NOT. By that logic why not give him 100 years since he’ll die along the way. What is the point? There is an off-chance he gets out in 12 years and can rush to the numbered Swiss Bank Account and get some cash out for the family. That’s what he is up to here. He’ll be 83 when he gets out. It would be an outrage.

The lawyer for Bernard Madoff, the confessed Ponzi scammer who faces a maximum of 150 years in prison, requested a 12-year sentence from the judge set to mete out his sentence on Monday.

Madoff defense attorney Ira Lee Sorkin made the request in a letter to Judge Denny Chin of U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Sorkin focused on the age of his septuagenarian client, as well as his “non-violent nature” and his “voluntary surrender” to authorities.

“Mr. Madoff is currently 71 years old and has an approximate life expectancy of 13 years,” wrote Sorkin, whose letter was released on Tuesday. “A prison term of 12 years – just short of an effective life sentence – will sufficiently address the goals of deterrence, protecting the public and promoting respect for the law.”




  1. Dallas says:

    If we can set him on fire after 12 years, then we got a deal.

  2. tresho says:

    Let him out as soon as he makes full restitution to everyone he’s defrauded, that would only be fair.

  3. Dave W says:

    12 years, okay, but make that 12 years shackled in the stocks, out doors in the weather, on a Wall Street sidewalk, where every passerby who wants to can throw a pie, tomatoes, eggs, etc at him.

    Otherwise, 100 years in jail is about right.

  4. bill says:

    No food, no air, no water, no light
    (drop him down a well)

  5. GetSmart says:

    Should’a had a better exit strategy.

  6. Jim says:

    Minimum 50 years, no parole. Forced restitution, no sitting on his can. If the judge falls for it, he will be raked over coals for the rest of his life.

  7. stopher2475 says:

    1 Billion in a swiss bank is 83 million a year over 12 years. Not a bad paycheck.

  8. Me says:

    Read a story awhile back of a guy who was paying a handful of employees with gold and silver coins/bullion. It amounted to a few hundred thousand dollars. IRS is trying to fry him, possible life imprisonment if he gets the max number of years.

    And this guy, does 50 billion and wants 12 years?

    Our legal system is inconsistant to say the least!

  9. Thinker says:

    I’m humming the tune “Let the punishment fit the crime! ” from the Mikado… :)

  10. scadragon says:

    12 years? So he’ll do maybe 3 – 5 and then get parolled.

  11. soundwash says:

    funny, i expected his lawyers to ask for only 10, with 5 on the table for good behavior..

    I’m waiting to see if he actually makes it to his final prison. i’m expecting some sort of drama to ensue..

    outside of all that, IMO, he should die
    in jail.

    -s

  12. AdmFubar says:

    the punushment should be one day in jail for every dollar stolen..

    :)

  13. Joe says:

    No deal. Part of the punishment should be that he doesn’t have anything to look forward to, ie a day he’ll walk the planet free again.

  14. dcphill says:

    5 years times the number of people he bilked.
    Actually, we need his capabilities to get us out of the mess we are in. That would be just punishment. It should be that or hang him.
    Make him an offer he can’t refuse.

  15. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    #12…make it a minute for every dollar and he’s still there forever.

    I say let him out in five and see how long he survives.

  16. LDA says:

    It should be an economic punishment for economic crime, i.e. life as a beggar.

    P.S. Many violent or sexual criminals get less than 12 years.

  17. nunyac says:

    I am thinking that this guy is to sharp to throw away in prison. Maybe we should let him run the biggest ponsi scheme in human history, that would be our social security system. He seems to have done a very good job with his ponsi . Certainly better than the feds. have done with theirs.
    nunyac

  18. Jim says:

    anything less than 25 years that bernie ebbers got from worldcom is only a slap in the wrist for this type of scam.

    at one good thing is, that because of the patriot act, there’s no parole in federal prisons for any people sentenced currently. so at least he’ll have to serve the whole term.

  19. stopher2475 says:

    “Read a story awhile back of a guy who was paying a handful of employees with gold and silver coins/bullion. It amounted to a few hundred thousand dollars. IRS is trying to fry him, possible life imprisonment if he gets the max number of years.

    And this guy, does 50 billion and wants 12 years?

    Our legal system is inconsistant to say the least!”

    Hey, Didn’t that guy win that case. He was paying them in coins that were worth more that the face value but the court ruled the tax could only be applied on that face value. So he could give you a dollar coin that was worth 10 bucks buck only pay payroll taxes on the dollar. Something like that.

  20. brm says:

    Ok, but only if it’s in a pound-me-in-the-ass prison.



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