Why is Madoff pleading guilty to charges that will put him in prison for the rest of his life? Further, the government now says they are no longer bound by an agreement to not go after his wife’s $80 million.
So who agrees to start a life sentence at 70, when you can have another year or two at your luxurious Park Avenue abode in the company of your spouse and family, while awaiting trial?
I don’t get it. I know he has smart, expensive, white collar lawyers, but who pleads a client to life in prison without a plea agreement, without concessions to family regarding their retention of assets or an agreement not to prosecute them?
So, they ask, what’s in it for Bernie?
Hmmm.
a) Maybe he lied to the Feds continually, they found out, and just flat lowered the boom on him.
b) He doesn’t want a trial because of what would come out. (Like whatever organized crime was behind him? But that would probably come out anyway during the coming years of accounting forensics anyway.)
c) He’s a genuinely broken man and doesn’t care any more.
d) He’s got some new slimy con we aren’t seeing yet.
Speaking of slimy cons, the Financial Times just debunked the Citi con job memo.that sparked the huge rally yesterday.
C is as likely as anything, though, isn’t it?
Except the feds apparently are now saying Madoff has lied continually to them.