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| Madoff heads to court with plea in the works |
| 2009-03-11 |
| Bernard Madoff, expected to plead guilty this week to charges of running Wall Street's biggest fraud, will appear in court on Tuesday for a judge to assess a potential conflict of interest for his lead attorney. Madoff, out on $10-million bail but under 24-hour house arrest and electronic surveillance in his luxury Manhattan apartment, last appeared on January 14 for a bail hearing. Tuesday's hearing is scheduled for 3pm (19:00GMT). Manhattan federal court officials have reserved an assembly room with an audio/visual feed in anticipation of hosting some of his former investors and frenzied media coverage on Thursday when the disgraced financier attends a plea proceeding. Metal barricades were erected on the sidewalk across the street from the courthouse to establish an area for TV crews. A court document signed last Friday by prosecutors and Madoff's attorney indicated Madoff would waive an indictment by a grand jury and plead guilty to criminal charges before Judge Denny Chin in the United States District Court. Other court filings showed the judge approved a government request for bilked victims to be heard in court, but they must give the prosecutor's office 24-hour notice, by 10am (14:00GMT) on Wednesday. Madoff was charged with one count of securities fraud when he was arrested on December 11, but has yet to formally answer it. Under the terms of his bail, the former Nasdaq stock market chairperson who authorities say confessed to running a "giant Ponzi scheme" over decades, may leave his penthouse for court appearances only. It will be several weeks or even months before Madoff is sentenced, but given his age (70) he will likely spend the rest of his life in prison. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 Money given to a spouse with the purpose of hiding same, is common property. That's easy to litigate. |
| Posted by: Injun Hupaique4861 2009-03-11 15:47 |
| #7 Lets hope so mhw. One man don't run a sawmill that big without helpers, lots of helpers. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-03-11 09:51 |
| #6 Mrs Madoff does have a lot of money and will be claiming that it does not derive from her husband's fraud. However, she and her kids worked in the company. They will probably be charged subsequent to getting complete post sentencing testimony from Madoff. |
| Posted by: mhw 2009-03-11 09:49 |
| #5 Why does a private ponzi scheme attract such ire Because he wasn't doing it "for the children"? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-03-11 09:39 |
| #4 Why does a private ponzi scheme attract such ire, when the public ponzi schemes in the form of Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare get a pass? The latest budget is also a massive ponzi scheme. |
| Posted by: Omoter Speaking for Boskone7794 2009-03-11 09:30 |
| #3 Madoff, his lovely bride, and possibly his sons and a host of others should spend the remainder of their lives in the slammer. As for the greedy rich, who let someone whisper Bernie's name in their ears at Temple and threw their entire life's savings at it.... tough egg bread. Live with it! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-03-11 08:35 |
| #2 Ummm, the only "Plea" that has a chance is "I'll give you all 5 million apiece to forget all about this'. But the Dems will probably say "Too little". Of course they might let him go if he shows them how he got away with it for so long. (So they can too, pack of thieves all of them, but might have grudging admiration for one who outdid them) |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-03-11 06:31 |
| #1 Is he the one who gave his wife 45 Mil? |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-03-11 06:21 |