What do you think of the 150-year fraud sentence for Bernard Madoff?

There will be no justice until ALL of the guilty parties are investigated, tried, and sentenced!

Shoot him,hang him,electrocute him............. and then put him in jail for 150 years!

In a scheme this huge it's hard to imagine that his family did not know. But then again, my Wife does not know where I spend or make $, so who knows. He fooled many a smart stranger out of their money, so who knows what he was telling his Wife.

Bottom line: She had $ before they were married and is entitled to keep a small part of her shattered life. Too bad the "main street" investor cannot say the same.

One of his sons turned him in, so it is not the entire family. However, certainly there were more people involved in this. He was the leader, but you know there were others who knew and participate. I'm sure they are in the process of hiding their money. Another reason he got so many years is that he refused to tell who was involved.

I'm surprised there aren't more neocon idiots whining that it was too harsh and extolling the virtues of a free market economy.

Yeah, sure. Free market. Free to be preyed upon, free to be scammed, free to not get a living wage for your labor, free to do without, free to be crushed into the dirt with a hobnailed boot by worthless, narcissistic morons who fancy themselves as being so much 'better' than you are, free to watch your job get shipped overseas. In unemployment and poverty we trust. Yay, capitalism. *rolls eyes*

Hey Waterdog... what about all of the greedy investors' role in this scheme?

Isn't it screwed up when Madoff is not declared a crook until people start losing money? Isn't something wrong when people with no income are sold mortgages that they can't afford? Funny thing is, everybody here is at fault... not just the greedy mortgage lender, but also the greedy home buyer jumping at something beyond their means... not just Bernie Madoff (who is a slime ball), but also every greedy investor who jumped at an opportunity to "earn" 3, 4, 5 times what other investments were offering.

Scapegoats seem convenient, but, ultimately, they solve nothing. The problem's a whole lot deeper than Bernie Madoff's pockets... solving it starts with each of us taking a good, hard look at our own values (or lack-thereof)

With the lack of discussion about whether or not he was a big party donor, I'd assume he gave big to the Dems. I've got no doubt the biased media would be trumpeting it near and far about another big GOP scandal if they could hang it around their necks.

Samuel Adamz,

There are legitimate money managers out there that will get you returns far better than the market average;finding one you can afford is not a crime. The investors were not greedy criminals that deserved what they got, they were victims! This has nothing to do with the problem of irresponsible people getting loans they cannot afford and then defaulting; this isresponsible people who wanted to invest their money for their future, vice waste it on frivolous junk, being taken by a con man. But Madoff was not just some street con, he was an ex NASDAQ executive playing money manager.

With all due respect, MjkaG, these people weren't exactly investing in T-bills or CDs. There's always a risk associated with stock market investments. Higher risk usually equals higher returns (or losses). This is not like Enron where people were forced into investing with Madoff (as Enron employees were forced to take Enron stock).

And I'm not saying that Madoff is a saint - I think that he's deserving of prison, and people's rage. But life is a two-way street, and there are consequesnces for our actions, both good and bad. Madoff is facing his consequences, the rest of us need to face ours.

Ms. Madoff and their sons should be stripped of all possessions. If they help investigators uncover the money trail to the stolen billions, jail time can be limited or eliminated.

I hope that the civil lawsuits abound so that Ms. Madoff is left with zilch. She should end up as a bag lady in the subway with a shopping cart as her prized possession. The victims of her greed would be able to visit her on a daily basis to let her know what they think of her.

high level fraud is not excusable..that should come with all canons fired.. long time imprisonment with any, all forfeitures that one can recover for victims..when TRUST is VIOLATED, with such magnitude.. these characters do not deserve any kind of FREEDOM....

You must be joking. He ruined countless lives. If he got off on a 12 year sentence, there would be riots in the streets.

Wrong. They do receive sentences like this when the system works right. And Madoff stole Billions of dollars from thousands of people, but you want him sentenced as though he held up a liquour store for $500?? No way. If he got just one year for every life he ruined he'd be in jail for THOUSANDS of years.

Keep that thought in mind: he didn't commit one crime, he committed thousands of crimes. He didn't steal a lot of money, he stole in almost inconceivably HUGE amount of money from mostly hard-working people who trusted him.

I just wish there were some way to keep him alive for the entire sentence so he could suffer that much longer.

I agree with Mike. I always hear about how white collar criminals don't get enough time and that the system is disproportionate. I think 150 is a good start so long as its a real prison with no parole. People took their lives over his faking their life savings away.

How can you say that 12 year sentence was more than enough?? If the shoes were on the other foot and you were one of the lives he destroyed, your thought process would be a lot different. He did not shed blood in the physical, but he ruined many lives. I do not condone rapists, child molesters or anyone that breaks the law. He is just as bad as these criminals you have named. He deserves the sentence he received, now they just need to find all that money he has hidden in offshore accounts. I know you don't really think he was dumb enough to have all the money in US accounts.

IDIOT!

Maybe you should be investigated after suggesting a 12 year sentence!

Its too bad that Pirates of this level only get 150 Years. I think that Drawn, Hanged, and Quartered should still be on the list of available options for people like him. Send these guys a message and they will think before they do this.

I agree! Money is not everything...these people were dealing with hedge funds that don't have much regulation. They are high risk...it didn't work out.

You've got to be kidding!!! This guy swindle people & charities out of Billions, that's with a capital "B"!! Yeah, I agree it's just money but when you are a retired senior citizens that has saved your entire life for a comfortable retirement and this az*h*le steals your life savings you'd want him dead!!!! Because you can't go out and make more money. Worst of all, you can't get your money back from this bast*rd or his family!

Thanks to the efforts of our Lieutenant Governor and a number of hard-working DA's in Dallas and Fort Worth and with the support of much of the public, rapists, child molesters, and drug dealers are beginning to get what THEY deserve--longer sentences and in the recent case of a child molester, LIFE in prison!!! Madoff deserves no less--he raped the trust of the people who invested in him, many of them losing their life savings and a number of them his own friends! Some friend! If his sentence allowed for parole and he got out after a few years, I have no doubt he would be back in the same business again!!!!!

How can anyone think that 12 years is enough? This guy stole billions from countless numbers of people. He ruined thousands of lives and helped put major distrust in our financial system. I agree in making the sentence so high that he will never get out of prison and other financial crooks (even the "legitimate" financial market) will be deterred. Now the government needs to go after the rest of the crooks within this Ponzi scheme and nail them. As much money as possible must be restored to his investors ASAP.

AZOB1, you are exactly correct! Sure he took advantage of these people but they handed their money over willingly looking to get rich. He didn't break into a bank and take the money nor did he force himself on a helpless woman nor maliciously murder anyone nor take advantage of an innocent child. Not to make light of the lives his actions ruined but many people lost just as much money due to the tanking economy as to his scheming and they have no means of retribution. What do you get from a 150 year sentence that you don't get from 12? The guy is 71 years old and will probably be dead in 12 years anyway! What about the moraless executives in the financial industry who took advantage of even more people than Madoff to obtain billions of dollars in bonuses, who's prosecuting them? Chin was incredibly wrong and the victims were seeking mob vengence and they got exactly that!

Just like drug dealers and child molesters, he ruined many lives. Some victims even took their own lives. He should have been tried for second degree murder as well. This is NOT just about money.

He didn't steal money,he stole lives.Thousands of peoples futures ruined beyond repair strictly because of his wanton greed.He should be put in the same cell block as the murderers and rapist,that would be appropriate

Madoff is as big a criminal as they come. He deserves far more than 12 years. I'm not sure 150 is enough, but it sends a message to other white-collar crooks.

: You get no chance of Parole, that's what. Other wise He'd be out before he died because he is "a model prisoner" or "totally rehabilitated". This way he will never get out. He will die with out his freedom as he "sentenced" many of his clients to do.

, not all of these people turned their money over to Madoff willingly. A great many invested their funds where they thought they were safe, and those who ran those funds put their money with Madoff. This often happened without the knowledge or permission of the investors. As a matter of fact, some of those investors had actually stipulated that hedge funds and Madoff-type accounts were NOT to receive their investments.

Those investor scumbags are the ones who should join Madoff in jail!

WHAT? Are you joking? This is a ponzi scheme, which means he took money with no intentions of returning it or investing it for the victims. As GWB would say, "In other words" he stoled their money, $1.5 BILLION, and you don't think he deserves at least 150 years? Sad.

I had an individual steel 2.3 from my company and only got 28 years. Life would have been just find as he disrupted many families and caused the death of my company. I may never recover and he gets to breath. too good for him.

#2.2: "I just wish there were some way to keep him alive for the entire sentence so he could suffer that much longer."

Amen to that!

Same thing Ken Lay (Enron) did for his family. Lay's wife got to keep their 7.5 million Dallas property plus who knows what else.

who, out of all of us, WOULDN'T break the law to benefit our families? i can't say i wouldn't. but i CAN say that if my family would pay for my crimes, i wouldn't do it.

take everything (and i mean everything) away from his family. set an example for others thinking about doing the same thing.

While I agree that his wife probably knew what was going on, unless it can be proven that she was complicit in the crimes, she cannot be held accountable and should not be punished. However, if the 2 million that she gets to keep is part of the stolen money, then she should have to give it back. If my spouse robs a bank, I don't think they will allow me to keep a portion of the loot just because I am the spouse and need money. Ill-gotten gain is just that. She would not be allowed to keep stolen jewelry, drive a stolen car, or cash in on fraudulent tax returns. If the 2 million was money that she had earned (doing what?) then she should be allowed to keep it. However, to her 2 million dollars is like telling her she has to go on welfare. Tough life. Maybe she should invest it in some scheme promising incredibly high returns. Ooops! Just sayin'

i for one. i work every day to HONESTLY benefit my family and have never considered unlawful acts for our benfit. a crook like this who willfully stole s much money as he could for as long as he could from as many people as he could should be locked away until death and ALL of his assets forfitted. let his wife (who benefits all those many, many years from his crimes as well as his sons, etc... should be left with nothing like his victims were. there were folks who lost everything, homes, everything! with this scheming crime.

Well, it was one of his sons who turned him in. Look to me like at least one of them didn't approve and was not complicit in his father's crimes.

after he fessed up to his son, still think it's him covering for his wife and son's. But still goes to greed people thinking their money is a bit better than anyone elses, begging to be part of his group, investing everything, then screaming when they loss it......

Scooter: 35% think it is too harsh because they are incapable of fathoming the depths of chaos Madoff has brought to other people's lives. Another poster above said it's just money. Tell that to the people who have been wiped out. What are they supposed to do in their declining years with no home and no income. Relying on govt. handouts won't take the sting out of being homeless and penniless. It's not just money, it is also people's lives. I would not be surprised to hear of 1 or more suicides by the victims of Madoff's treachery.

#5.1: "I would not be surprised to hear of 1 or more suicides by the victims of Madoff's treachery."

There have actually been 2 suicides, one of them was Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, a French investor; I forget who the other was. I would be surprised if there weren't more.

Yeah, just like China. . . . . . not sure we want to go there. My guess is that he will comply with what you want on his own.

I say go after those who helped him all these years. There is no way he did this on his own. If they don't they will continue to manipulate the system, turn a blind eye and keep screwing people out of their money.

well said

What about his employees? He had a large company with many regaulr folk who did things like sort he mail, answer the phones, human resources, etc. They are all now out of their jobs. It's not just investors who were hurt financially.

What ABOUT his employees? Many of those employees HAD to know what was going on (or, more accurately, NOT going on). They should join Bernie as quickly as possible. To think otherwise is the German Army defense: I vas just following za orders from mein kommendant. They all had several other opportunities to (a) leave quietly and get another job (with a reco from Bernie, no doubt); (b) turn the rat bastard in; (c) work with the SEC to gather evidence while there, among others. They all stayed. They need to pay as well. As do the blind bastards at the SEC who refused to look when they WERE being warned repeatedly.

Bailey odd post, so we let him keep stealing to save jobs? yea sorry for his employees but wonder how many knew what was going one, but really think your logic is off.....

That's actually wrong. Because of the scale of his crime he's not eligable for minimum-security. He'll most likely be in a medium-security prison with gangsters and thugs. Just where he belongs.

Well, good then. Maybe someone will rough him up something fierce!

We can only hope the same fate awaits Bernie as Jeffrey Daumer. With Bubba providing some hershey highway action first, of course.

Check out the Eighth Commandment!

Cooper, you do not understand what a ponzi scheme is. Check out Wikipedia, it will tell you that a "Ponzi scheme is a operation that pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from any actual profit earned." So, there were no investments for those who had thought they were investing. There was never any way that they were all going to get their money back. He simply took it and spent it. That is theft, that is stealing, it is not legal. He had no intentions of investing their money.

But some people were getting paid and had no reason to suspect anything was wrong. A puts in money, asks for return, B is recreuited, B's money used to pay off A.This guy had a very legit background and a very legit looking operation. No one got hoodwinked in the traditional sense.

Well said Milelie2009!

Also, let's not forget all the good charities that invested with this jerk and lost so much money they have to shut down! That impacts some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Good works that would have helped the sick and homeless will not get done now and who knows what misery that will cause in these difficult economic times.

Wait a minute. He is a con-man. You're actually saying that there should be no penalties for fraud? Or that no one should expect to be protected from bank embezzlers? Following your logic, I shouldn't be able to complain about a pick-pocket because I should have taken better care of my wallet.

I don't want to live in your world, thanks very much.

Julie, you are wrong. These people thought they were investing via Madoff, however he didn't lose the money in poor investments, he stole the money that is diffierent than trusting someone to invest for you. Do you see the difference? The money was taken, not invested, and converted to other uses than investments. Me thinks you are just a little naive...

Bohge

I don't want to livein Julie's world either, Patrick.

Julie, no offense intended, but you sound like some teenaged kid, who, as yet, has had no exposure to the real world.

Julie, it is clear you do not understand this situation. What he did was criminal and it hurt a lot of people, destroyed their lives. What he did was against the law, this is not simply some uneducated guy saying he could help you make money; it was calculated to steal from these people, just as though he robbed them in their homes.

Julie. How do I put this in the most sensitive, constructive way possible....YOU'RE A MORON.

Julie,

Maybe with good behavior, they will let him out after only 100 years.

How about we go back and retro-actively give the same to bush and the rest of the crooks who just left office (cheney, rove, rumsfeld)? This did take place on their watch.

Yikes! A bit bitter that your boy lost the election? I wouldn't wish any indictments on politicians because the line behind the Bush administration would be really long.

What the hell does this comment have to do with the topic at hand?!! Knothead!

How dare you compare Obama to the Madoff scandal. Take an eight-year jump back on the wayback machine, buddy. Obama had the equvalent of a flaming bag of Barney poo left on the doorstep of 1600 when he took office. Were you living under a rock? Instead of taking misguided aim at this administration, why don't you come up with a solution that unravels the web of deceipt that Bush and that group of circus monkeys at the SEC (sorry, monkeys) wove????? As for Madoff, I don't believe he should see the light of day again.

I dont know but make me pay for insurance on someone else is crazy. Obama has spent more than any other president and has done nothing now rais out taxes to pay for all the "people" who are either to lazy or just dont want to pay for insurance. Good idea when is someone going to start paying my bills OH never mind i have a job i am supposed to pay for all the welfare moms to get everything for free so they can sit home and have more kids to keep living for free.

Chris-1190132

Get your facts correct before you post and make a fool of yourself !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reagan-bush1 more than tripled the National debt from under 800 billion dollars to about 3 trillion !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

. . . Now onto bush2 - the National debt was still around 3 trillion dollars when Bush2 was selected as president, when he left, the National debt was over 10 trillion, another more than 3 fold increase, so don't talk to me about big spending presidents unless you're going to include the last three republican presidents . . . and the republicans had complete control from 2002 to 2006 during which time the debt increased by about as much as it had in the previous 200 years, so don't tell me it was a Democratic Congress that increased the debt !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

. . . and finally, the current deficit is 10% President Obama's programs and 90% leftover from guess who . . . bush2

. . . look it up, ditto head !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!