MADOFF PLEADS GUILTY IN $65B PONZI SCHEME
Disgraced Wall Street financier Bernie Madoff was hauled away in handcuffs today after he pleaded guilty to 11 felony charges - including securities and wire fraud - in connection with running a massive, $65 billion Ponzi scheme.
"Guilty," Madoff said, moments after Judge Denny Chin asked him to enter a plea.
"I am deeply sorry and ashamed," said Madoff, after the judge asked him if he understood the charges.
He also admitted that the brazen Ponzi scheme began in the early 1990's in response to a recession and that he concocted the scam in order to meet the lofty expectations of his exclusive clients.
"I am actually grateful for this opportunity to publicly comment about my crimes, for which I am deeply sorry and ashamed," Madoff told the judge during the nearly two-hour hearing.
"As the years went by, I realized my risk, and this day would inevitably come," he added. "I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for my crimes."
Before he spoke, Madoff asked the judge if he could have some water.
"Mr. Madoff, you can be seated. Pour yourself some water," Chin told him.
The judge informed Madoff that the guilty plea could result in a maximum prison term of 150 years.
Madoff will be sentenced June 16.
Prosecutors successfully argued that Madoff should be remanded and immediately jailed, although his lawyer Ira Sorkin had argued that his client is not a flight risk and should be allowed to go home.
After arguments began as to whether Madoff should remain free on bail, Sorkin described the bail conditions and how Madoff had, "at his wife's own expense," paid for private security at his $7 million penthouse.
Loud laughter erupted among some of the more than 100 spectators crammed into the large courtroom on the 24th floor of the federal courthouse. The judge warned the spectators to remain silent.
The 24 victims sitting in the courtroom burst into loud applause once the judge denied bail. Madoff was taken to a holding cell in a lower Manhattan correctional facility.
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