Madoff pleads?

This seems, on its face, to be a bad deal for Madoff.

He wasn't likely to win his trial, but he might, and in any event he stays free until then. By pleading now he goes to jail, basically forever; so what motivates him?

It can't be money -- sometimes people want to avoid legal fees and so plead guilty but here Madoff, presumably, was paying his lawyer with money otherwise frozen. Put otherwise, he was paying his lawyer with money he defrauded from others. His legals were being paid with 'other people's money'.

It could be remorse. But I've done lots of criminal cases and that's pretty well unheard of in white collar crime. Murder, sexual assault, criminal negligence causing death, sure there you see remorse leading to early guilty pleas. But not fraud.

So what is it?

At a guess it's his family. There is a deal -- despite what the prosecutors say -- and the deal is to let Madoff take the fall for everyone. I'd be surprised if his sons actually were involved in wrongdoing (it seems Madoff kept them pretty far away from the truth) but that wouldn't stop a prosecution and possible convictions for something. Look at Lord Black's co-accused -- at least one of them really didn't do anything wrong and he was convicted.

There's an old story about Stalin. True or not it's telling.

Stalin executed a young man and that same night demanded that the young man's father come to dinner and tell jokes and sing.

The father did as his was told.

Why?

Because the father was a coward?

No; it was because the father had another son.

Madoff to plead guilty to 11 charges

Former Wall Street baron likely to spend rest of his life in prison

David Glovin and Erik Larson,
National Post

Bernard Madoff will plead guilty in two days to fraud charges in a Ponzi scheme that was the largest in U.S. history, his lawyer Ira Sorkin said in a court hearing Tuesday.

Madoff appeared in Manhattan federal court Tuesday and waived a possible conflict of interest by his attorney, Ira Sorkin.

In the course of the hearing, Mr. Sorkin said that Madoff will plead guilty to fraud charges on March 12.

The guilty plea has been expected since March 6, when Madoff's lawyer said his client would agree to be prosecuted without a grand jury indictment.

Madoff, who is free on US$10-million bail, is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty.

AFP reported that prosecutors would seek a 150-year prison term for the ex-Wall Street baron.

Madoff faces 11 criminal charges including securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, three counts of money laundering and filing false statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission, said U.S. assistant attorney general Marc Litt.

"There is no plea agreement," Mr. Litt said, meaning Madoff has to plead guilty to all 11 counts.

Madoff, 70, was arrested on Dec. 11 and charged with fraud for using billions of dollars from new investors to pay off old ones. The day before, he told relatives that his business was "one big lie," prosecutors said in court papers.
James Morton
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