OK I haven't mentioned the Bernie Madoff case at all here. I have worked alot in federal white collar crime cases, and I have this to say about the 150 year sentence handed down yesterday:
Most white collar fraud cases that plead involved a guilty plea to one or two counts, which establishes a maximum sentence by statute. In other words, if Madoff had pleaded to count one, he would be looking at a maximum of 10 years, for example. That's not what happened here- Madoff pled "to the sheet" in the hopes that short-circuiting the process would result in leinency from the Judge. Because Madoff didn't have a plea agreement in this case, his exposure was not the 10 years a hypthetical plea to count one carried, it was the total amount of time the judge could give him by stacking all 15 counts on top of one another. That's how he got 150 years- 10 x 15. Ten is the maximum for a single count of fraud. Thus, the 150 years sentence is the result of a tactical choice gone wrong.
However, if I had represented someone in this general fact pattern, I might have said, "look your best chance is to get a really high sentence in the hopes that the court of appeals will reverse it for being ridiculous."
As for the human toll in all white collar crime cases- I have heard enough victim impact speeches in these cases to last a life time and I'm always suprised at how unsympathetic the victims are. Alot of it has to do with the fact that succesful fraud prays on victim greed. It's difficult to be sympathetic to a victim that was trying to make a quick buck. That isn't necessarily the case here, but certainly before the fall these victims felt 'privileged' with exclusitivity and years of clock-work high returns.
Today I read that the Feds are going to charge 10 more people in this case. THAT should be interesting- more interesting then Madoff himself.
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