Yeah. 150 is enough for a man of his age to simply give up and die. He's been handed a death sentence, and his family will likely have to change their names and move ( once the press dies down ).

This provides no comfort to those who will be left to clean up the financial ruin. But, people are petty and vindictive to the point of sentencing someone to twice the average lifespan of a human being. It's in that, that I find absolute distaste for all sides of this.

In what fucked up world is it okay to sentence someone to twice their life? It's absurd, and serves only to satisfy a vindictive motive. It doesn't belong in the justice system. Justice isn't about vengeance. And even for a worthless two timing arch criminal like madoff we shouldn't be lowered to this sort of thing. Because it's exactly this sort of precedent that has set the stage for absurd drug "enforcement" sentences. And even more ridiculous counter-terrorism witch hunts.

There are bad people on this planet, to be sure. And, we should do everything in our power to stop them from hurting others. But, we can't give up on the redeeming qualities of the justice system. And we can't provide an avenue for oppression in legislature.

That is why I am saddened by the sentence. Madoff should spend the rest of his life in prison, but there's no need to set fantastic sentences with no credible basis in reality. It's merely a message to the world that our legal system is completely broken, and that we are more animals than people.

"It's merely a message to the world that our legal system is completely broken, and that we are more animals than people."

No, that would be "cruel and unusual punishment," i.e., the death penalty.

"It's absurd, and serves only to satisfy a vindictive motive."

Or maybe to, I don't know, discourage others from trying the same sh!t?!

I agree that revenge doesn't fix the situation, but I think the punishment is enough. The guy still refuses to cooperate with investigators and shows very little remorse for the lives he's ruined. And wifey still gets a cool 2 mil. That's what I call absurd.

What would really be justice is to seize all his assets & distribute them among his victims, maybe even provide a little relief for all the newly unemployed, but that ain't gonna happen.

While I wholeheartedly agree, try to reason with his victims. If it were possible to sentence him to eternity in jail, I'm sure they'd push for it.

he wont make it a month in jail...

I'm not convinced 150 years, while the legal limit, is enough.

"How do you excuse lying to a wife who stood by you for 50 years?"

nice try, mcfly. there's no way your wife didn't know.

Did you ever see the movie "Married to the Mob"? She didn't know nuthin.

"I thoughts he went to work at a very successful bagel shop everyday." said the teary eyed Ruth Madoff.

CNN says Madoff did apologize to his victims. Who do we trust: CNN or Gothamist? I'll go with CNN. I'm afraid.

the media outlet is besides the point. souless greaseballs like madoff are only sorry that they got busted. if he was capable of true remorse he never could have even thought about ruining so many people's lives. he can take his apology and boof it.

Sorry—I was basing the "Madoff did not turn to address his victims" on a Bloomberg News reporter's account; the reporter said Madoff did not turn his head.

But he did express his remorse, which is a sort of apology.

Oh Bernie, I want to be sympathetic...but you're just such a dick.

Who wants to guess what his prison tats will look like?

A hello Kitty tramp stamp?

http://offbeatink.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/lower-back-tattoo-on-woman.jpg

Maybe this?

His last 10K?

In Nelson Muntz's voice, "HA! HA!"

he still didn't talk,

he followed the rules of the Street,

snitches gets stitches,

no snitching a rule even a rich white guy can abide to.

that means to me, he made a lot of people rich and a lot of people less rich. but they're still rich.

lots of people got rich and not just him, the feeder funds, the crazy commissions, the brokerage houses.

see manhattan investment fund and michael berger.

He would have been snitching on his own family, his sons, wife, cousins, etc. and for what? He could have shown them Jimmy Hoffa and there's still no way he was ever getting out of jail.

I agree. He had nothing to earn by "snitching" on his accomplices. Especially since most of them were probably very close friends or family members. Maybe the only honorable thing about Bernie is that he insisted the entire time that he was the only reason all this shit happened, and nobody he loved knew what he was up to. A lie, to be sure, but finally a lie that looks out for somebody else instead of himself.

Guess Madoff really took it on the Chin.

Thanks, I'll be here all week, remember to tip your server.