US financier Bernard Madoff admits 50 billion dollar fraud

DISGRACED financier Bernard Madoff is unlikely ever to see freedom again after pleading guilty to a massive fraud and being remanded to jail today.

Madoff, 70, was told by a judge in New York he would be sentenced in June. He had earlier accepted that he might be given 150 years.

Madoff pleaded guilty to all 11 charges relating to an estimated 50 billion dollar "Ponzi" scheme that wiped out the savings of thousands of people.

Madoff, dressed in a grey suit, appeared calm in court as he pleaded guilty to each of the 11 charges in turn.

Prior to the plea being taken, the fraudster apologised.

He told the court: "I am grateful for this opportunity to publicly speak about my crimes, for which I am so deeply sorry and ashamed."

He added that he knew his actions were "wrong" and "criminal" when he set up the Ponzi investment scheme.

"I believed it would end shortly and I would be able to extricate myself and my clients from the scheme," he said.

But as time went on it proved "difficult" and then "impossible" to end, he said.

He told to court: "As the years went by, I realised my risk, and this day would inevitably come."

"I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for what I have done," he said.

Madoff then explained how he conducted the fraud.

He said the pyramid scheme operated alongside a legitimate part of the business run by his sons and brother.

Madoff solicited billions of dollars from clients under the pretence that it was being invested in securities on their behalf.

Instead the money was deposited in a number of bank accounts.

When the scam was exposed, Madoff claimed to hold 64.8 billion dollars worth of client money. In reality, his firm held only a fraction of that amount.

To hide the crime, Madoff lied to clients and regulators. He also wired money to and from the UK in a bid to look as though he was investing in European markets.

Some of Madoff's clients were in court to hear his confession.

After taking guilty pleas on charges of fraud, perjury and false reporting, Judge Denny Chin invited victims to come forward and state if they accepted Madoff's guilt.

One victim, named only as Mr Nuremberg, challenged the fraudster to face the victims.

He told the court: "I am one of the many victims of Madoff's egregious crimes."

Mr Nuremberg then addressed the convicted fraudster directly: "I do not know if you have had the chance to turn around and look at the victims."

Madoff continued to stare forwards and away from the investors who had crammed into the back of the court.

Mr Nuremberg also expressed disbelief that the fraud could have been conducted by Madoff alone.

He said: "We know that the operation was massive, that he did not commit this crime alone. I do not understand why conspiracy was not part of the plea."

The scammed investor said the Ponzi scheme "must have required an army of people".

Another victim, who did not give her name, urged the rejection of the pleas so a trial could take place.

She told the judge: "If we go to trial we will show our people in this struggling country and the world that looks to us as the global moral leader that we hold all people accountable."

Madoff's decision not to enter into a plea bargain has been taken as an indication that the financier is still refusing to cooperate with authorities over the whereabouts of missing billions or who else may have been involved in the scheme.

In court today, the Attorney's office repeated its vow not to close its investigation into Madoff's activities.

Despite the objection of some of those he ripped off, Madoff's plea was accepted by the judge who then turned his attention to the subject of bail.

Madoff has spent the months since being arrested in his plush Manhattan apartment rather than in a cell, to the disgust of some of his victims.

In court today, his lawyer, Ira Sorkin, attempted to argue that his
client was not a risk of flight.

But this was dismissed by the judge.

"He has the means to flee and therefore is a risk of flight. Bail is revoked and the defendant is remanded," Judge Chin said.

The announcement was met by a ripple of applause in the courtroom.
Madoff is due to be sentenced on June 16.