More than 500 Bernie Madoff victims oppose prison release: Read what they told judge about Ponzi kingpin

Hundreds of victims of Ponzi scheme kingpin Bernie Madoff really don’t want him to get out of prison despite his claim that he is dying. They recently told a judge their reasons in often-heartbreaking letters.

“Our lives, and not just financially, also emotionally, mentally, and physically . . . were Destroyed,” wrote one victim, who noted that her husband lost $850,000 to Madoff.

Another woman wrote, “I lost all my money and my husband of 40 years committed suicide because of his horrific crimes.

“As far as I am concerned, he should spend the rest of his life in jail,” she wrote to Judge Denny Chin in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Releasing Maddoff, a third victim told Chin, “would be to put another knife in the hearts of his victims.”

Those three letters are among the approximately 520 that Madoff victims sent Chin on the heels of Madoff’s court filing last month seeking early release from his 150-year prison sentence because he has terminal kidney disease.

Madoff, who had headed Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities in New York City, pleaded guilty in 2009 to 11 crimes related swindling of billions of dollars from thousands of investors over several decades by what prosecutors have called the largest Ponzi scheme in history.

His new lawyer says the 81-year-old Madoff could be dead in 18 months or less given his medical condition, which has left him mainly wheelchair bound in a federal medical prison facility in North Carolina.

Madoff is seeking so-called compassionate release, which was granted several months ago to former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers, who died last month shortly after being set free from a 25-year prison term for a massive accounting fraud.

Federal prosecutors on Thursday evening filed a memorandum opposing Madoff’s request, saying he “has demonstrated a wholesale lack of understanding of the seriousness of his crimes and a lack of compassion for his victims, underscoring that he is undeserving of compassionate release himself.”  

The filing notes that out of the hundreds of letters from victims sent to Chin, just 20, or 4 % of the total, support Madoff’s request.

The individual letters are expected to be publicly released at some point.

But prosecutors in their filing quoted parts of a number of letters to bolster their argument opposing the idea of releasing Madoff.

Prosecutors noted that after Madoff’s scheme was exposed in 2008, two investors committed suicide “upon realizing the substantial losses they had incurred as a result of investing with Madoff.”

“Madoff’s son Mark hanged himself on the second anniversary of Madoff’s arrest,” prosecutors wrote.

“Moreover, as reported by the many victim submissions provided in response to Madoff’s motion, Madoff caused many victims immense personal suffering, including by wrecking their family’s financial security ruining their retirements or other life plans, or exacerbating the health conditions themselves or loved ones.”

“Many of these victims were not independently wealthy, and worked their entire lives to accumulate the savings that Madoff stole to fuel his and his family’s extravagant lifestyles.”

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/05/bernie-madoff-victims-oppose-prison-release-of-ponzi-scheme-leader.html