Madoff lawyer seeks 12 year sentence : $US50 billion fraud

A lawyer for disgraced financier Bernard Madoff has sought a sentence of 12 years or less for his aging client, who he says “has an approximate life expectancy of 13 years”.

In a letter to the judge overseeing the case in New York, lawyer Ira Sorkin said any sentence longer than 12 years would constitute “an effective life sentence” for his client.

Madoff, 71, is due to be sentenced next week in a New York federal court. The former investor, who is accused of perpetrating a $US50 billion fraud, could face up to 150 years in prison.

Sorkin said the court should take into consideration Madoff’s surrender to police, acceptance of responsibility, cooperation with authorities, and the non-violent nature of his offence.

The letter said:

“A prison term of 12 years, just short of an effective sentence, will sufficiently address the goals of deterrence, protecting the public and promoting respect for the law, without being ‘greater than necessary’ to achieve them,”

Sorkin’s letter added that Madoff would describe his “pain” at the suffering his actions caused during an upcoming sentencing hearing.

“Both he and his counsel acknowledge the scope and magnitude of those losses and understand the victims’ calls for reprisal,”

But Sorkin urged the court to:

“set aside the emotion and hysteria attendant to this case and render a sentence that is just and proportionate to the conduct at issue.”

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