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Reuters – Bernard Madoff was sentenced on Monday to 150 years in prison — the maximum penalty the judge could give him for "extraordinarily evil" crimes in Wall Street’s biggest and most brazen investment fraud.
Fleeced investors in the courtroom cheered and applauded as the judge handed down the penalty.
Madoff, 71, stood passively with his hands clasped at his waist, showing no reaction when he heard the sentence that will send him to prison for the rest of his life.
Reuters UK – Five months after Bernard Madoff’s massive fraud was revealed, little of his victims’ money has been found and it appears increasingly likely that the worldwide hunt for their missing billions will drag on for years.
So far, the court-appointed trustee sorting through Wall Street’s biggest investment fraud has located only about $1 billion (656 million pounds) to be distributed to defrauded customers — a fraction of the $65 billion the confessed con man’s records purported to have in nearly 7,000 client accounts when the FBI arrested him in December.
Trustee Irving Picard has signalled, however, that he is ramping up efforts to find more money, a ray of hope for victims if these funds can ever be tracked down and shared among them.
At this relatively early stage of Picard’s investigation, though, it is unclear if that is possible.
New York Daily News – Marc Dreier will plead guilty to all charges stemming from the $700 million investment fraud he is accused of carrying out, his lawyer said Monday.
Defense lawyer Gerald Shargel said Dreier will enter the plea May 11 to securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering charges. He wants to accept responsibility and show his remorse, Shargel said.
Until December, Dreier had led a law firm with 250 lawyers and celebrity clients, including Jay Leno and ex-New York Giants star Michael Strahan. He was arrested after hedge funds complained he was stealing from them.
International Herald Tribune – A Silicon Valley hedge fund manager has been arrested in Hong Kong on charges that he bilked investors out of at least $5 million.
According to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday in San Jose federal court, Albert Hu faces six counts of wire fraud charges for an investment fraud scheme involving hedge funds he administered from 2002 to 2008, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
