Madoff Wants a Chance to Personally Pitch for His Freedom
Madoff Says Prison Until He Dies Is ‘Retribution’ Not Justice
(Bloomberg) -- Bernard Madoff, who scammed investors out of $20 billion in history’s biggest Ponzi scheme, wants one more chance to make a pitch: this time for his freedom.
Madoff’s lawyer on Wednesday asked a New York federal judge to allow his client to personally appeal for compassionate release from his 150-year sentence on the grounds that he’s dying from kidney failure. Madoff has so far served 10 years.
“Resolution of Mr. Madoff’s motion for compassionate release is likely to be the last proceeding in this case before Mr. Madoff’s death,” Brandon Sample, Madoff’s lawyer, said in a court filing. “Allowing Mr. Madoff to give what is, in effect, a final dying, personal plea is imminently reasonable.”
Sample said Madoff, 81, wants a public hearing but would make his appearance over the phone rather than in person. In a letter in response, federal prosecutors in New York told the judge that whatever Madoff had to say “at this point would be self-serving and of limited” value.
Madoff last month asked for early release, saying he was likely to die within the next 18 months. Prosecutors pushed back, arguing that Madoff doesn’t deserve a break because of the magnitude of his crimes and his lack of remorse.
In a separate letter to U.S. Circuit Court Judge Denny Chin late Wednesday, Sample said retribution alone isn’t a sufficient reason to keep Madoff behind bars in his final days.
“Keeping a prisoner incarcerated past the point of serving a legitimate purpose begs the question of whether our motives are driven by retribution, deterrence, or something else,” Sample said.
The lawyer compared Madoff to the so-called Lockerbie bomber, who killed more than 270 people when he helped bring down Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was released by a Scottish court in 2009 after just eight years in jail because he was dying from cancer.
“Despite the horrific nature of his crimes, he was granted compassion,” Sample wrote.
The letter also pushed back on the government’s claim that Madoff wasn’t remorseful about ripping off thousands of investors.
“Madoff recognized and admitted that while he was sorry, nothing he could say would undo the damage he’d caused,” Sample said. “Madoff lives with the guilt and shame of what he did every day, and he hopes the court will give him the opportunity to address this through an evidentiary hearing.”
Sample told the court that an unidentified person had agreed to house Madoff if he’s freed. Sample asked the court to seal a letter from that person to prevent their identify from becoming public.
Prosecutors are compiling letters from victims responding to Madoff’s request, and they’re likely to be made public. The government also asserted that Madoff could live longer than the 18 months estimated by the Bureau of Prisons.
Sample pointed out it was possible that Madoff could die before 18 months passed. “Indeed, past statistics show that numerous inmates have died while seeking compassionate release,” Sample said.
--With assistance from Bob Van Voris.
To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Anthony Lin
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