Bernard Madoff’s Bid for Freedom Denied by U.S. Court

Bernard Madoff’s Bid for Freedom Denied by U.S. Court - 3/20/2009

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2009 News and Press Releases

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HEADLINES \| SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS \| COURT FILINGS LINKS TO OTHER NEWS \| NEWS ARCHIVE	HEADLINES ARCHIVED SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS ARCHIVED

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Bernard Madoff’s Bid for Freedom Denied by U.S. Court
Erik Larson and Christopher Scinta

Bloomberg. March 20, 2009
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EXCERPT: Bernard Madoff must remain in prison while he awaits sentencing for orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, a federal appeals court ruled. The U.S. Court of Appeals in New York rejected Madoff’s expedited appeal of a lower-court judge’s order that he be jailed before being sentenced for defrauding thousands of investors. Madoff, 70, is being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan. “The defendant’s age and his exposure to imprisonment are undisputed, and the court did not err in inferring an incentive to flee from these facts,” the three judge panel said in the ruling. “The district court’s finding that the defendant has the means -- and therefore the ability -- to flee was not clear error.” Madoff, who had been free on $10 million bail, was sent to prison on March 12 after pleading guilty to 11 felony counts. He admitted he used money from new investors to pay off old ones and said the global fraud began in the early 1990s. Prosecutors said they’ll seek to seize more than $100 million in assets from Madoff and his wife, Ruth. Ira Sorkin, Madoff’s attorney, asked U.S. Circuit Judges Dennis Jacobs, Richard Wesley and Robert Sack to rule that U.S. District Judge Denny Chin abused his discretion by revoking Madoff’s bail. Madoff faces a prison term of as long as 150 years when he’s sentenced on June 16. Sorkin asked the judges to return Madoff to home confinement in his $7 million Upper East Side apartment in Manhattan. Lawyer Disappointed “We are disappointed,” Sorkin said. “We respectfully disagree what the court has ruled.” He declined to say if he would continue the appeal. Madoff, while at home, was watched by cameras and guards approved by the government, Sorkin said.

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