Reply #32: Defence says 12-year term apt for Madoff

[Demeter]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8a2a6f98-6021-11de-a09b-00144feabdc0.html

By Joanna Chung in New York

Published: June 23 2009 20:38 | Last updated: June 23 2009 23:32

Bernard Madoff should get 12 years in prison, his attorney said on Tuesday, arguing that the sentence would be sufficient punishment for the former broker who committed one of history’s biggest frauds.

The request for leniency was made in advance of Mr Madoff’s sentencing, scheduled in the US for Monday. Mr Madoff, 71, faces up to 150 years in prison after pleading guilty to carrying out a $65bn Ponzi scheme that has claimed thousands of victims globally.

Mr Madoff would “speak to the shame he has felt and to the pain he has caused” at sentencing, wrote Ira Sorkin, his attorney, in a letter to Judge Denny Chin this week.

“We seek neither mercy nor sympathy,” Mr Sorkin wrote. But he said it was the duty of the court to “set aside the emotion and hysteria attendant to this case’’ in rendering its judgment.

Dozens of defrauded investors have sent letters to Judge Chin, describing the loss of their life savings and asking him to ensure that Mr Madoff spends the rest of his life in prison. Some have asked to speak at the sentencing hearing.

But while the anger and resentment among the victims were justified, Mr Sorkin wrote in his letter, the court should not give in to “a type of mob vengeance” apparently desired by the victims.

A 12-year prison term for Madoff, which would be just short of an effective life sentence, would be sufficient to address the goal of deterrence, protect the public and promote respect for the law, Mr Sorkin wrote.

He said a 15 to 20-year sentence would also achieve the same goals without “disproportionately punishing” Mr Madoff, compared with sentences for other white-collar criminals.

“Indeed, such a range will appropriately eliminate concerns for disparate treatment among similarly situated non-violent offenders,’’ he wrote in his letter, which accompanied an analysis of sentences given to defendants in fraud-related cases between 1999 and 2008 that showed that the average sentence when leniency was not provided was 15.3 years in prison. Mr Sorkin said Mr Madoff had an approximate life expectancy of 12.6 more years.

Jerry Reisman, an attorney who represents victims, said Mr Madoff should receive the maximum sentence. “ Madoff should never see the light of day . . . He should not only be punished for his crimes but the sentence must be a deterrence to others who may even think of committing a similar crime.”

THROW THE BOOK AT HIM--SENTENCING SHOULD BE HIGHER! SET THE PRECEDENT WITH MADOFF!