Bernie Madoff Sentenced to 150 years in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin

Bernie Madoff, the infamous Wall Street money manager who bilked $65 billion from individual investors was sentenced today in federal district court after earlier pleading guilty to fraud. Madoff’s defense lawyers requested a 13-year sentencing, arguing that 71 year-old Madoff would be dead in 12. But the sentencing judge, U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin, called Madoff’s actions “extraordinarily evil” and sided with prosecutors. Judge Chin sentenced Madoff to the maximum of 150 years in prison.

“Objectively speaking, the fraud here was staggering,” Judge Chin said.

Last week, Judge Chin signed an order directing Madoff to forfeit $171 billion in personal property and investements, including  $80 million that his wife Ruth Madoff claimed belonged to her. The order left Mrs. Madoff to make do with $2.5 million in cash.

According to the Federal Judicial Service, Judge Chin was nominated to the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by President Bill Clinton on March 24, 1994. He was confirmed by the Senate on August 9, 1994, and received his commission on August 10, 1994.

Judge Chin is “the first Asian-American to be appointed to a federal district court judgeship outside the 9th Circuit, and is one of only six Asian-American federal judges.”

Born in Kowloon, Hong Kong in 1954, Judge Chin came to the United States in 1956. He attended Stuyvesant High School, then went onto Princeton University where he graduated magna cum laude in 1975. He went straight to law school at Fordham University School of Law and graduated in 1978.

Good job, Judge Chin. You decided correctly in the Madoff sentencing.