On this, the eve of Madoff's impending guilty plea (didn't see that one coming), I thought it might be fitting to take a brief poll on what type of sentence you think Madoff should receive for screwing over investors to the tune of $50 billion. I'm not talking number of years here (yawn) - I'm talking good old fashioned real life payment for his crimes. It can be cruel and unusual. Maybe you think he should be publicly stoned. Or more creatively, strung up by his toes in the middle of Wall Street, naked as the day he was unfortunately brought into this world, or forced to live out the remainder of his life in the putred sewers of New York. The list goes on.
I know you have it in you...well, maybe not, but I'm hoping. Let's get some good suggestions going here. Don't let me down. (Not to worry, the bar is already set pretty low.)
What do you think Madoff's sentence should be?
his sentence is like 150 years, but i would bet even though tomorrow is sentencing day, his attorneys can get him to do no prison time, due to age, health, cooperation with the prosecution, etc. He didn't even have a plea deal so I'm thinking that he is going to still be " sitting pretty" regardless of the fact that he swindled many people and organizations out of millions.
Community service every day for the rest of his life with no chance of parole.
madoff only lost 50 million? in that case let him go, small time.
put him in a dunk tank everyday somewhere on wall st.
I would like him to be in a solitary cell with a screen, and on that screen...every day and every night there should be pictures of his victims, one after the other after the other, always saying, 'Look, look what you have done.' .... He should not be able to avoid those faces, for years to come.
This is only a minimum punishment.
Plaxico Burress was a Superbowl hero but also an idiot with a gun in his sweatpants. He caused no harm to anyone but himself. He lost a ton of money, his reputation, and his career is possibly over before the age of 27. Also facing jail time.
Bernie Madoff ruined countless lives, and he will probably die in a comfy apartment without feeling sorry for what he did. He should be duct taped to a seatless chair while having a power drill put into non-vital organs very slowly. Then get to the vital ones...
Just my 2 cents.
My thoughts exactly.
I was also thinking he should be sentenced to life in a state pen with no special privileges. Just toss him in a cell like everyone else and things will work themselves out. I'm guessing most inmates wouldn't take too kindly to corporate criminals.
50 Billion. With a B.
i'll wait for marcus to talk about what will happen to madoff in prison.
i think he will pull a ken lay. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Lay
The world has changed. And we must change with it.
He needs to be put in some sort of detention center where they guantanamo bay his ass
Hopefully he gets a night with affluenza before he is stoned, torched, strung up, sent to prison...
Jeff Skilling got 24 years for Enron, and he wasn't even the main culprit. That is the starting point.
I hope he gets a 20+ sentence in a max security prison.
I don't see what good it will do to eviscerate him. I think we should have him do community service.
bernie has pissed off too many people with a lot of money to get out that easy. i'm sure it will be something like community service.
I think he should get a life sentence with no chance for parole in federal prison. The inmates will show him what's up.
Make him the host of "Dirty Jobs" and not pay him.
To placate the fury of the American public, someone's head needs to roll. I would rather it be Madoff's than some more bankers.
First, I would confiscate EVERYTHING he and his wife own. Then I would make them live on charity, sleep under a bridge and work 18 h a day, 7 d a week. The proceedings would go to repay part of what he swindled.
Frankly, I don't give a shit. He's a crook yes, are we going to lynch him or what? He stole from a bunch of stupid people who didn't do their due diligence (whether the diligence was on him or the people managing your money who subsequently invested with him). Put him in jail and shut the fuck up about it already I'm sick of hearing about this old fart.
His victims were definitely not sophisticated. I know two people who were approached by Madoff - both asked a few, not terribly ambitious questions. One never heard back, and one was sufficiently unimpressed that he shied clear.
That said, how is what he did any worse than any other crime? IMO, it was a net neutral act for society that represented a simple transfer of wealth from the schlubs who invested with Madoff to the schlubbs who sold him artwork. The only difference between him and a bank robber is bank deposits are insured, but that is a morons argument, because you pay for that insurance. If you want, I'm sure you could purchase insurance against HF fraud. If someone had stolen 50bn from a bank, they'd get a jail term, then they'd push out a memoir, sell the movie rights, and Hollywood would canonize them. People need to get over Madoff - it's not his fault he's an ugly schmuck, but I'm sick of seeing his face.
I somewhat agree. A prime example of the "animal spirits".
If you gave your money to this guy, you're an idiot. Plain and simple.
People just took his word for it that he was producing crazy returns--I think the proof is in the pudding.
These people weren't all high end seasoned investors who knew how to analyze financial statements and track investment records. They knew Madoff had a good reputation and had produced good returns.
And it sure is easy to say "they shouldn't have given this guy money" AFTER the fact that he stole 50 billion. He had a legal obligation to look out for his clients' best interests. This guy was not stupid either.
We're the passengers on the 9/11 flights deserving of what happened because they didn't do a background check on every single person that was going to be on the flight?
Feel free to go ahead and point out the next few guys who are going to get accused of fraud and then you can talk shit about the people who's lives were ruined by this piece of shit.
Genius analogy, very relevant.
Perhaps they should force him and his wife to live in a van down by the river and on a daily basis let a different one of his defrauded investors waterboard him and sodomize his wife, if they so choose.
remember the episode of sopranos where the only way they could make the guy budge was to threaten his manhood?
something like that
personally, I think the noble thing would've been for madoff to off himself - we need more of that greco-roman-samurai sense of honor.
he should be made president
They should make him work at McDonald's every day until he earns enough money to pay back the $50 billion.
haha yup! McDonald's is a good start of an ending
One word - SODOMY.
they should allow the individuals and groups who invested with him decide. It could be like the episode of Seinfeild where he has to a personal butler to all the people he ripped off. A couple more creative ideas: lock him im solitary confinment with Hanson's Mmm Bop playing on repeat over the room's soundsystem or signing him up to work for Habitat for Humanity.
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