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NEW YORK - Historic swindler Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison Monday for a fraud so extensive that the judge said he needed to send a symbolic message to potential imitators and to victims who demanded harsh punishment.
Scattered applause and whoops broke out in the crowded Manhattan courtroom after U.S. District Judge Denny Chin issued the maximum sentence to the 71-year-old defendant, who said he lives "in a tormented state now, knowing all the pain and suffering I've created."
Chin rejected a request by Madoff's lawyer for leniency and said he disagreed that victims of the fraud were seeking mob vengeance.
"Here the message must be sent that Mr. Madoff's crimes were extraordinarily evil and that this kind of manipulation of the system is not just a bloodless crime that takes place on paper, but one instead that takes a staggering toll," Chin said.
The judge said the estimate that Madoff has cost his victims more than $13 billion was conservative because it did not include money from feeder funds.
"Objectively speaking, the fraud here was staggering," he said.
Madoff's victims might not have become financially better off by the sentence, but they were pleased at the maximum sentence that will not allow Madoff to ever again be a free man.
Among them was Michael DeVita, 59, of Chalfont, Bucks County, who was there with his mother, Emma, 81. They invested separately but lost more than $1 million combined.
Michael DeVita flashed a victory signal as he exited the courthouse.
Albert Dandridge, a former official at the Securities and Exchange Commission, who is now at a Philadelphia law firm, talked of the strong message being sent by the sentencing judge:
"I am not surprised by the 150-year sentence Judge Chin handed down to Bernard Madoff today," said Dandridge, who is now a partner at Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP in Philadelphia.
Dandridge said he believed the court probably realized that Madoff worked with others to perpetrate the Ponzi scheme.
"Madoff was probably going to spend the rest of his life in prison no matter what – however, I believe a message is being sent to those who may have been participants in this fraud with Bernie Madoff. Such a sentence will give the SEC and DOJ [Department of Justice] leverage with respect to such persons to get to the bottom of the scheme notwithstanding Bernie Madoff's non-cooperation."
Before Chin announced the sentence, Madoff, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and a tie, sat and listened as emotional witnesses described how he spoiled their security. Madoff looking thinner than his last court appearance in March.
He gave no noticeable reaction when the sentence was announced.
He also showed no emotion earlier in the hearing as he listened to nine victims spend nearly an hour describing their despair. Some openly wept. Others raised their voices in anger.
"Life has been a living hell. It feels like the nightmare we can't wake from," said Carla Hirshhorn.
"He stole from the rich. He stole from the poor. He stole from the in between. He had no values," said Tom Fitzmaurice. "He cheated his victims out of their money so he and his wife Ruth could live a life of luxury beyond belief."
Dominic Ambrosino called it an "indescribably heinous crime" and urged a long prison sentence so "will know he is imprisoned in much the same way he imprisoned us and others."
He added: "In a sense, I would like somebody in the court today to tell me how long is my sentence."
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