Financier behind multi-billion dollar ponzi scheme gets stiffest punishment available
Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff has been sentenced to a staggering 150 years in prison. Madoff pleaded guilty last month to bilking hundreds of clients in an elaborate ponzi scheme worth billions of dollars. Judge Denny Chin settled on the sentence after hearing from 10 of Madoff’s victims at a hearing Monday morning. Chin opted for the stiff sentence despite the U.S. federal probation department’s recommendation that Madoff get a sentence of 50 years. Prosecutors had asked for a prison sentence of 150 years, while Madoff’s lawyer had requested the judge to hand down a 12-year prison sentence.