Prosecutors Preparing to Charge 10 More in Madoff Ponzi Scheme

Now that Bernard Madoff will be spending the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced to the maximum of 150 years yesterday, prosecutors are now turning their attention to others who knew or had reason to know about the Ponzi scheme and participated and/or benefited from the scheme. 10 more people are expected to be charged.

A person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, wouldn't detail potential charges or say whether the 10 would include Madoff's family or former employees. So far, only Madoff and an accountant accused of failing to make basic auditing checks have been criminally charged in the multibillion-dollar hoax.

In court Monday, the 71-year-old Madoff admitted it was impossible for him to excuse deeds that U.S. District Judge Denny Chin noted had cost investors $13.2 billion by conservative estimates and $50 billion by the estimate Madoff gave his sons in December.

"I don't ask any forgiveness," Madoff told Chin. "Although I may not have intended harm, I did a great deal of harm."

Later, he turned around to look at the victims lining the first row of the gallery.

He didn't intend harm? What did he think was going to happen once the money ran dry and he had to settle up with all of his clients who thought they had invested billions with Madoff only to find it was gone into the ether? Of course it was intended to cause harm, which would also explain why the maximum sentence was imposed.

It will be interesting to see who else gets indicted. I'm expecting that other members of the Madoff family will be involved, along with his accountant and potentially those working at some of the banks where Madoff did business.

UPDATE:
Jammie points out that a NY Times business columnist wonders why investors who were scammed by Madoff should even be made whole. After all, they were gullible enough to buy into Madoff's claims of impressive returns year after year, which defied credibility.

Besides, as I’ve argued before, the S.E.C.’s negligence notwithstanding, shouldn’t the Madoff victims have to bear at least some responsibility for their own gullibility? Mr. Madoff’s supposed results — those steady, positive returns quarter after blessed quarter — is a classic example of the old saw, “when something looks too good to be true, it probably is.” What’s more, most of the people investing with Mr. Madoff thought they had gotten in on something really special; there was a certain smugness that came with thinking they had a special, secret deal not available to everyone else. Of course, it turned they were right — they did have a special deal. It just wasn’t what they expected.

Still, those investors who lost money with Madoff have until Friday to file claims with SIPC of up to $500,000. That's cold comfort to those who lost millions or more with Madoff.

The SEC does need a serious overhaul of their procedures and process to uncover schemes to defraud investors, but it is ill equipped to do so.