Madoff attempts to answer the question "How much do you suck?" before realizing he doesn't have the arms for it.

He’s going to prison, the big house, the pokey, the pen, the can, jail, up the river, the hoosegow! Applause broke out in the crowded Manhattan courtroom after U.S. District Judge Denny Chin issued the maximum sentence to Bernard Madoff, thief of billions and fleecer of masses.  Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison today after pleading guilty in March to securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, investment adviser fraud, three counts of money laundering, false statements, perjury, false filings with the SEC and theft from an employee benefit plan–the  haul from which totaled an estimated $65 billion dollars and harmed or destroyed the lives of at least 8,000 people (there are an estimated additional 1,300 victims who have yet to be identified).

For those thinking this seems like a harsh penalty for a white collar crime, consider this.  That’s a mere 1 year per each $433,333,333 stolen and 53.33 people swindled. Furthermore,  at least 2 suicides and one fatal heart attack have been attributed to his acts.  The widow of the man who died of a heart attack wrote the judge, asking for a fitting sentence.  That letter exemplifies the type of man Madoff is.

It told the story of a Madoff investor who had died of a heart attack. Madoff, presumably at the man’s funeral, put his arm around the the widow and said, “Your money is safe.” The widow then gave Madoff more money, all of which is gone.

She was not alone in writing the judge to ask for a stiff sentence; many of his 8,000 victims wanted to testify against him during the pre-sentencing hearing, but they had to select a handful. Tellingly, absolutely no one–not friends nor family–spoke on his behalf or asked for leniency. The only person to ask for leniency was his lawyer, who asked for a laughable 12 year sentence.

When issuing the sentence, Judge Chin stated:

“Here the message must be sent that Mr. Madoff’s crimes were extraordinarily evil and that this kind of manipulation of the system is not just a bloodless crime that takes place on paper, but one instead that takes a staggering toll.”

Madoff and his wife have been forced to forfeit $171 billion in assets, and hopefully some of his victims will see repayment.