Wall Street financier Bernard Madoff has been jailed and led out of court in handcuffs after pleading guilty to a massive financial fraud.
Judge Denny Chin ordered that Madoff, aged 70, should be jailed pending sentencing on 16 June on 11 charges of fraud, theft and money laundering.
‘I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for what I have done’ Madoff said as he pleaded guilty to the charges.
The disgraced money manager and former Nasdaq stock market chairman, described a long-running scheme that he knew from the beginning was ‘criminal and wrong’ but hoped would end shortly.
As he became more deeply engaged in the fraud, he said he realised that his arrest and this day would inevitably come.
Madoff's role in the scheme, which took in as much as $65bn over two decades before the 2008 market meltdown, could land him in prison for the rest of his life.
Speaking for 10 minutes, Madoff said he was grateful for the opportunity to talk and deeply sorry and ashamed of his actions.
Madoff, who stood to the left of his lawyer, hands draped at his side, admitted to securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, false statements, perjury, false filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and theft from an employee benefit plan.
His investors included hedge funds, banks, Jewish charities, the wealthy, and small individual investors in North and South America and Europe.
Prosecutors have indicated that they will push for the maximum sentence for Madoff, which is 150 years imprisonment.
Since being arrested on 11 December, Madoff had been under house arrest in his luxury penthouse on Manhattan in New York.
