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Academic

: The Faculty Lounge

Potential Plea Deal for Bernie Madoff

By Laura Appleman

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Various news sources report today that Bernie Madoff may strike a plea deal with prosecutors:

[M]oney manager Bernard L. Madoff has agreed to waive his right to a formal grand jury review of accusations that he conducted a worldwide Ponzi scheme, according to a new filing Friday in a federal court in Manhattan.

The agreement sets the stage for a plea bargain between Mr. Madoff and federal prosecutors, who have been negotiating with his lawyers since his arrest on Dec. 11. Criminal charges filed against him at that time and subsequent court filings indicated that he confessed to his crime both to his family members and to the F.B.I agent who arrested him at his apartment.

Further, Mr. Madoff agreed last month to a partial settlement of regulatory charges filed against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In that settlement, he essentially agreed that he would not contest the accusations the agency made against him ? a step that would have greatly complicated any effort by his lawyers to assert his innocence at a trial.

As much of a relief as this may be to Mr. Madoff, his potentially impending plea deal highlights a major problem with guilty pleas--their tendency to cut the public out of the picture. I am not (happily) a Madoff investor myself, but I can imagine that the majority of his former clients want to see him go through a public trial and sentencing, to have him undergo the special type of expressive retribution that only happens with the involvement of a jury. (Funny, I just happen to have a new paper on that very issue!)

Whatever bargain Madoff sets up, I'm sure it will not be as satisfying to those he bilked as a proper trial, out in the public square. I'm not suggesting a return to stocks or stoning--but I, for one, would like to see all of Madoff's double dealings come out into the light. Disposing of his alleged crimes in the back-rooms of the criminal justice system will satisfy few and frustrate many.

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on March 06, 2009 (boomark / email).