Bernard Madoff, the man behind the multi-billion-dollar, decades-long Ponzi scheme, plead guilty Thursday before U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin ’75.
Chin served as managing editor for The Daily Princetonian in its 98th board and graduated magna cum laude from the University with a degree in psychology.
Madoff pled guilty to a total of 11 criminal charges, including securities fraud, money laundering, wire fraud, mail fraud and making a false filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The charges Madoff faces carry a maximum sentence of 150 years in prison, which indicates that Madoff, now 70 years old, will spend the rest of his life in prison.
“I am actually grateful for this opportunity to publicly comment about my crimes, for which I am deeply sorry and ashamed,” Madoff said to Judge Chin, according to the Associated Press.
After the trial, Chin revoked Madoff’s $10 million bail and ordered him to report immediately to jail, explaining that the former money manager had the resources and the incentive to flee the country before his June 16 sentencing.
Though Chin is a 15-year veteran of the federal branch with considerable experience with other high-profile cases, the Madoff scandal is arguably the most noteworthy case to take place in Chin’s courtroom.
In 2006, Chin presided over the case that tossed out a state law toughening New York’s ability to track sexual offenders.
Last month, the judge sentenced the head of the prostitution ring whose clients included former New York governor Eliot Spitzer ’81.
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