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Madoff and Bail Pending Sentencing

By Jeralyn

Does anyone find it unusual that Bernard Madoff's lawyers didn't file a motion today for bail pending sentencing? I just checked the court docket and the only thing they filed were their entries of appearance. The only filing by the Government was the emails it received from victims, which it filed under seal.

Has the Government agreed to let Madoff stay out on bond pending sentencing? If not, why wouldn't Madoff's lawyers file a big brief arguing for it? The Judge said yesterday it's one of two issues he will take up tomorrow./

Here's Reuters and Bloomberg's latest articles with speculation from lawyers and sources they interviewed about why Madoff may have agreed to plead guilty, but it's still not adding up for me. I have a long post ready on other possibilities, but I'm holding off in case some real information emerges tonight or tomorrow. I don't feel like just fueling more speculation. [Updates below]

This AP article suggests the Judge will grant bail pending sentencing:

Chin has not said how he intends to rule on the bail issue, but he indicated he would give victims who disagreed with his decision a chance to speak before he makes his order final.

What victim is going to argue for bail? If this is what Chin said, then it seems he's going to grant bail. Do the prosecutors also agree? If so, then that's a concession they made to get his guilty plea and while there may not be a formal "plea bargain," there is a plea deal.

A plea deal is any concession made in exchange for a plea of guilty. It doesn't just refer to a sentence reduction or an agreed upon sentence. If the Government agrees to let someone plead guilty to 8 charges when it would otherwise charge them with 9, that's a plea deal. If the Government agrees not to oppose bail pending sentencing, that's a concession and a plea deal.

Obviously, the two sides conferred and reached an agreement on what counts Madoff would plead guilty to. If, as Bloomberg reports, the Government wanted a plea to a conspiracy charge but agreed to forego it in exchange for Madoff pleading guilty to the other 11 charges, that's a concession and a plea deal.

It also seems there was an agreement (if only to disagree)on forfeiture. Madoff has agreed to plead guilty to the criminal forfeiture counts and the Government has agreed in return to let him dispute the amount of the forfeiture with the Judge having the final say.

If there really was no agreement, there would no Information, there would have been an Indictment. I wonder what else they agreed to in their non-agreement?

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 11, 2009 (boomark / email).