Bernard Madoff Sentenced to 150 Years in Prison

NEW YORK, June 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Lev L. Dassin, the Acting U.S.
Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Joseph M. Demarest, Jr.,
the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced that Bernard L. Madoff was sentenced
today in Manhattan federal court to 150 years in prison for perpetrating a
Ponzi scheme that resulted in billions of dollars of losses to thousands of
investor-victims.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin, in sentencing Madoff, stated, "Objectively
speaking, the fraud was staggering" and that "the breach of trust was
massive." Judge Chin described Madoff's crimes as "extraordinarily evil" and
said that Madoff's was "not merely a bloodless crime that takes place on paper
but one that takes a staggering human toll." Judge Chin said, "No other white
collar case is comparable in terms of the scope, duration and enormity of the
fraud and the degree of the betrayal." Prior to imposing sentence, Judge Chin
heard from nine victims who testified as to the devastation Madoff's fraud had
caused to their lives and the lives of their families.

As part of his sentence, Madoff, 71, was also ordered to forfeit a total of
$170,799,000,000, which represents the total proceeds of and property involved
in certain of Madoff's crimes. Judge Chin had entered a preliminary order of
forfeiture on June 26, 2009, which completely divested Madoff of his interest
in all property, including real estate, investments, cars and boats, in
partial satisfaction of the forfeiture judgment. In addition, by order
entered June 24, 2009, Judge Chin extended the time for ruling on an order of
restitution for 90 days from the date of sentencing.

Madoff has been in custody since he pleaded guilty on March 12, 2009, to an
11-count information charging securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, mail
fraud, wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, false statements,
perjury, false filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
and theft from an employee benefit plan.

Mr. Dassin praised the investigative work of the FBI. Mr. Dassin also thanked
the SEC, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, the U.S. Department
of Labor, the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA) Trustee, and the U.S.
Marshals Service for their assistance.

"The sentence imposed today recognizes the significance of Bernard Madoff's
crimes," said Acting U.S. Attorney Lev L. Dassin. "While today's sentence is
an important milestone, the investigation is continuing. We are committed to
bringing additional charges against anyone else who bears criminal
responsibility. At the same time, we are focused on tracing, restraining and
liquidating assets to maximize recoveries for the victims."

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Marc Litt, Lisa A. Baroni, William J. Stellmach,
Barbara A. Ward and Sharon Frase are in charge of the prosecution.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

Yusill Scribner, Rebekah Carmichael or Janice Oh, +1-212-637-2600, all of the
office of Acting United States Attorney Lev L. Dassin, Southern District of
New York