A US District Court judge has sentenced disgraced financier Bernard Madoff to 150 years in prison for perpetrating Wall Street's biggest and most brazen investment fraud.
The courtroom in New York erupted in cheers and applause as US District Court Judge Denny Chin imposed the maximum possible prison sentence on the 71-year-old defendant.
Madoff stood facing the judge with his hands clasped in front of him as he learned his fate. 'The fraud here was staggering,' Chin said, after listening to angry statements from some of Madoff's victims.
Before his sentencing, Madoff addressed the court. 'I cannot offer you an excuse for my behaviour,' he said, speaking in a calm voice. 'How do you excuse betraying thousands of investors who entrusted me with their life savings?' He said he tried to undo his crimes but 'the harder I tried, the deeper a hole I dug for myself'.
Earlier, Madoff sat still, his eyes lowered, as victims came before the judge to tell how they were ruined financially, many having to sell their homes and live off Social Security.
Madoff confessed to running a multibillion-dollar 'Ponzi scheme' in which investors were paid returns from money paid by later investors.
Investigators do not know how much was stolen, according to court papers. Prosecutors say $170 billion flowed through the main Madoff account over decades, and that weeks before the financier's December arrest the firm's statements showed a total of $65 billion in accounts.
The trustee winding down the Madoff firm has so far collected $1.2 billion to return to investors.
