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Jailed con man Bernard Madoff won't appeal his 150-year prison sentence, his attorney said yesterday.
Madoff, 71, was sentenced June 29 for masterminding the largest U.S. Ponzi scheme ever. Prosecutors said the money manager told clients they had as much as $65 billion invested with him. The government has so far documented losses of about $13 billion.
"In terms of the appeal, done, over," defense attorney Ira Sorkin said in an interview. He declined to elaborate on Madoff's reason for not appealing.
The decision means Madoff will spend the rest of his life in prison and has no chance of ever winning his freedom. He's being held in a federal detention center in lower Manhattan, pending his transfer to an as-yet undecided prison.
The sentence is far longer than those handed down in other white-collar cases. Former WorldCom chief executive officer Bernard Ebbers, 67, was sentenced to 25 years after he was convicted of an $11 billion fraud. Samuel Israel, cofounder of hedge fund Bayou Group L.L.C., was sentenced to 20 years for a $400 million fraud. Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling is serving a 24-year sentence.
Janice Oh, a spokeswoman for acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin, declined to comment.
Madoff received the maximum sentence on the 11 fraud charges to which he pleaded guilty. He received 20 years each on counts of securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, two counts of international money laundering, and making a false statement to the SEC.
He got 10 years for money laundering and five years each for investment-adviser fraud, making a false statement, perjury, and theft from an employee benefit plan. The sentences, which are the maximum on each count, are to be served consecutively.
At his sentencing, Madoff apologized to thousands of victims, describing his epic fraud as a "problem," "an error of judgment" and "a tragic mistake."
He said he and his wife, Ruth, were tormented, saying she "cries herself to sleep every night, knowing all the pain and suffering I have caused."
A week ago, Ruth Madoff was forced out of the $7 million Manhattan penthouse where the couple primarily lived, although they also had homes in the Hamptons, Florida and France. Those homes and several yachts, together worth tens of millions of dollars, are being sold to reimburse investors.
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