Legal News

Breaking News: Madoff to Stay Behind Bars Pending Sentencing

By Ashby Jones

Barring some completely unforeseen development, Bernie Madoff is going to spend a long, long time behind bars, including the next few months.

The Second Circuit earlier Friday affirmed the ruling of the federal district court judge overseeing Madoff’s case, Denny Chin, who had ordered Madoff detained for the months leading up to sentencing, currently slated for June 16. Click here for a copy of the Second Circuit’s ruling; here for a LB post from last week on Madoff and his prison prospects.

In a summary order, Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs, Judge Robert Sack and Judge Richard Wesley stated:

[O]ur review of the record confirms that the district court’s findings were sufficient under the circumstances of this case. The defendant’s age and his exposure to imprisonment are undisputed, and the court did not err in inferring an incentive to flee from these facts. Moreover, the district court’s finding that the defendant has the means — and therefore the ability — to flee was not clear error. The defendant has argued that all of his assets are accounted for and are inaccessible to him; however, the district court was not required to treat this defendant’s financial representations as reliable. The defendant has a residence abroad, and has had ample opportunity over a long period of time to secret substantial resources outside the country.

Madoff is currently being housed in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, a federal detention center in lower Manhattan.

“We’re disappointed,” said Ira Sorkin, Madoff’s lawyer. “We respectfully disagree, but the court has ruled.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 20, 2009 (boomark / email).