Just right!!!  He deserved the max.

And, I do agree with the fact that they let his wife keep some money - it's hard to tell exactly what her level of involvement would have been in the whole thing.  I'm glad they didn't let her keep the whole $80 million they were trying to claim was hers, but to let her keep something was fair.

I think the only remorse that guy feels is over the fact he got caught.  He has no true understanding of what he did to his victims.

Jun 29, 2009 -- 12:26PM, Merope wrote:

Bernard Madoff has been sentenced to 150 years in prison.

Bloomberg describes his crime(s) as "epic fraud," noting that Madoff masterminded the largest Ponzi scheme in history.  Madoff's sentence is six times longer than the penalties meted out to the chief executives of WorldCom and Enron.

What do you think?  Too long?  Too short?  Just right?

Madoff=Just right.

WorldCom and Enron=Too short.

I am not so sure.  Yes, what he did was horrendous.  Yes, he should lose every cent he has (including the money they let his wife keep), and then let him struggle on the streets like some of those he cheated may have to do.  That seems more fair to me than giving him a double life sentence.  He got more time than some who are convicted of murder - and that I do not understand.

Justme

I'm so sick of hearing about this guy. I just turn the channel now!

Jun 29, 2009 -- 3:16PM, Merope wrote:

Jun 29, 2009 -- 2:39PM, Justme333 wrote:

I am not so sure.  Yes, what he did was horrendous.  Yes, he should lose every cent he has (including the money they let his wife keep), and then let him struggle on the streets like some of those he cheated may have to do.  That seems more fair to me than giving him a double life sentence.  He got more time than some who are convicted of murder - and that I do not understand.

Justme

At the sentencing hearing, the judge called Madoff's crime "extraordinarily evil."

A propos of the murder analogy, some of Madoff's burned investors did commit suicide when they discovered their investments were worthless (not to mention non-existent).  One investor's widow interviewed on my local Fox station's news said she feels her husband's suicide was tantamount to murder committed by Madoff.  She said it thoughtfully and reluctantly, but she meant it.

Then, too, he'd been running the scheme since some time in the 1960s.

I think, though, that he might have gotten a lighter sentence had the economy not tanked as badly as it has. 

Guess I hadn't heard all that, and I can certainly understand why his victims would want him sent away for ever.  I still think that 6-12 months in a really hard core prison, and then released with absolutely not a dime to his name would be more equitable.  Maybe he then would understand what he did to others, maybe he would end up as the victim who committed suicide. I do not think that having three square meals a day and a roof over his head for the rest of his life shows him anything. He won't be around that much longer anyway.

Justme