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Dying Ponzi fraud mastermind Bernie Madoff in plea for release from 150-year term

AP
AP

Bernie Madoff has asked for “compassionate release” from his 150-year prison sentence for masterminding the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, revealing he has terminal kidney failure and less than 18 months to live.

Madoff’s lawyer filed court papers saying the 81-year-old has end-stage kidney disease and other “chronic medical conditions” including hypertension and cardiovascular disease. “There’s no cure,” Madoff told the Washington Post in a telephone interview, expressing remorse for orchestrating America’s biggest fraud.

After spending more than a decade behind bars, Madoff said his dying wish was to salvage his relationships with his grandchildren. “I’ve served 11 years already and frankly, I’ve suffered through it,” he said. The US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan declined to comment. Prosecutors were expected to file a motion in response to the request in the coming days.

Madoff pleaded guilty in 2009 to 11 federal counts in a fraudulent investment scheme involving billions of dollars, admitting he swindled thousands of clients over decades.

His victims included the rich and famous such as Steven Spielberg, Kevin Bacon, Larry King and Zsa Zsa Gabor, as well as people lesser means who had invested with him unknowingly through feeder funds.

Allowing Madoff to receive end-of-life care in community would be more efficient and less burdensome on prisons

Attorney Brandon Sample

The new court submissions say Madoff was admitted in July to the palliative care unit of the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina. “Madoff’s health will continue to deteriorate and he will require more assistance physically and medically leading up to his death,” attorney Brandon Sample wrote.

A so-called compassionate release would allow Madoff to “receive end-of-life care in the community, which would be more efficient, timely and less burdensome” on the US Bureau of Prisons, Mr Sample wrote.

The Bureau of Prisons denied Madoff’s request for release in December, according to court papers, saying it would “minimise the severity of his offence”. The agency lists Madoff’s release date as November 14, 2139.

Madoff’s motion mentions Scotland’s controversial release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was convicted in 2001 of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988, killing 270 people.

Al-Megrahi was freed in 2009 on compassionate grounds and died of cancer in 2012, still protesting his innocence.

The motion also cites the more recent case of Bernard Ebbers, a 78-year-old executive sentenced to 25 years in prison in one of the largest corporate accounting scandals in US history.

A federal judge in Manhattan ordered the former WorldCom chief released due to his deteriorating health, saying he posed no risk to society.