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BERNIE MADOFF HAS asked for a “compassionate release” from his 150-year prison sentence for fraud, saying he has terminal kidney failure and less than 18 months to live.
Madoff’s lawyer filed court papers saying the 81-year-old has end-stage kidney disease and other “chronic, serious medical conditions,” including hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
“There’s no cure for my type of disease,” Madoff told The Washington Post in a phone interview, expressing remorse for orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history.
After spending more than a decade behind bars, Madoff said his dying wish is to salvage his relationships with his grandchildren.
“I’ve served 11 years already and, quite frankly, I’ve suffered through it,” he said.
The US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan declined to comment. Prosecutors are expected to file a motion in response to the request in the coming days.
Madoff pleaded guilty in 2009 to 11 federal counts in a fraudulent investment scheme involving billions of dollars, admitting he swindled thousands of clients over decades.
The rich and famous were among his victims, as well as people of lesser means who had invested with him unknowingly through feeder funds.
The new court filings say Madoff was admitted in July to the palliative care unit of the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina.
“Madoff’s health has and will continue to deteriorate, and he will require more assistance physically and medically leading up to his death,” attorney Brandon Sample wrote.
A so-called compassionate release would allow Madoff to “receive end-of-life care in the community, which would be more efficient, timely, and less burdensome” on the US Bureau of Prisons, Mr Sample wrote.
The Bureau of Prisons denied Madoff’s request for release in December, according to court papers, saying it would “minimise the severity of his offence”.
The agency lists Madoff’s release date as 14 November 2139.
Madoff’s motion mentions Scotland’s controversial release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was convicted in 2001 of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988, killing 270 people.
Al-Megrahi was freed in 2009 on compassionate grounds and died of cancer in 2012, still protesting his innocence.
The motion also cites the more recent case of Bernard Ebbers, a 78-year-old executive sentenced to 25 years in prison in one of the largest corporate accounting scandals in US history.
A federal judge in Manhattan ordered the former WorldCom chief released due to his deteriorating health, saying he posed no risk to society.
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Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.
@Andrew Behan: Well in Ireland you can do the crime but won’t do time
@Andrew Behan: how can you do 150 years
@Michael Sherlock: with good behaviour he would be out in 110 years , no bother.
@Michael Sherlock: give it your best shot, just try!
If he had done this in Ireland back then he would have been in the Galway tent drinking cocktails and regaling the countries elite on how he does it. Upon conviction in 09 he would be out by now practising his handicap.
He should have thought about it when he was swindling.
Have I sympathy for his condition… yes
But he knew what he was doing.
Pity the same deterrent isn’t in play here, I would imagine a lot of people here are thanking their lucky stars they are in Ireland.
This guy caused the Global crash. No way are you compassion off me…. think about the misery he caused to others first.
@Paul O’Sullivan: “This guy caused the Global crash”
No he didn’t.
He defrauded a whole bunch of rich Hollywood and celebrity types and he made about $20 billion in investors money disappear.
Small potatoes when compared to what happened during the crash.
@Will: not just Hollywood celebrity types. Plenty of school teachers and construction workers with a few quid saved up bought into his BS too.
@Martin McFly:
He has served 11 years… If the Medics agree then I would release him on a 6 month by 6 month basis…
Despite what some people say here, Prison is not about revenge it is about rehab. Is Madoff a threat to anyone in society? I very much doubt so…
Whats the point, Madoff released or in prison doesn’t send any messages anymore…
@Paul O’Sullivan: can’t cheat an honest man. Wise words.
@Will: an article from 2008 .
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2008/12/mado-d18.html
Keep the head down Seanie
He was sentenced to die in prison so be it
Jailed because of his own stupidity. He should have set up and operated from Ireland, he wouldn’t have had any jail time and FFG would have paid to fight his case.
@G Row:
Hahaha. I got a good laugh from that. Good man. So true too by the way.
And….
Bernie Madoff was convicted of perpetrating roughly the same thing that Fine Gael want to do here with their ‘Project Ireland 2040′.
It is a giant Ponzi Scheme where you add new people to the bottom to pay off the people at the top.
In the US you get jail time in Ireland you get air time to promote it.
Very strange that his lawyers chose the Lockerbie bomber as an example – he was received in Libya as a national hero and, as the article says, went on to live another 3 years. I remember Pinochet made a miraculous recovery once he was allowed home from Thatcher’s care. Not even Alan Dershowitz can get him out alive, I doubt
Let him rot in there. Why does he think he deserves special treatment?
Bernie made off with other peoples money. Crooked.
He deserves to die in prison he destroyed so many families including his own
Over here, we would have had a protest group group pointing out all the good that Bernie did through charitable organisations …true !
Bernie was an Equal Opportunity thief – he stole from everybody, not just a select minority – so give the guy a break and let him make his peace with his family while there’s still time. Maybe he’ll cough up the rest of the hidden loot.
I distinctly remember looking through his prospectus as a no nothing 23 year old thinking it was odd his returns were so consistent. Thankfully we never heaped client money in, like the experienced “pro’s” who did.
have your say