Madoff Gets 150 Years for Ponzi Scheme

Bernie Madoff got a 150-year sentence yesterday for his vicious and evil Ponzi scheme that bankrupted many clients. Under federal rules, he will have to serve 80% of that time, meaning that he can get out in 2129. Given that he is 71, this is a life sentence and then some. The question is whether it is enough.

What Mr. Madoff did was unforgivable. He destroyed the hopes and dreams of his investors by deceit and arrogance. Some argue, though, that 30 years would have been sufficient to see him die in prison. That, of course, is what should happen to him, but given the magnitude of his crime, the sentence given says more about America as a nation of laws than it does about Mr. Madoff's actions.

Justice is nothing more or less than people getting what they deserve, both the criminals and the victims. Mercy has its place, but it is a gift to the unworthy by a society that makes itself better than those it punishes. In Mr. Madoff's case, there is little ground for mercy. US District Judge Denny Chin noted "not a single letter was submitted in support of Madoff. Not friends, not family. That is telling." One has clearly gone too far when family and friends turn their backs.

Judge Chin also said, quite rightly, "Here the message must be sent that Mr. Madoff's crimes were extraordinarily evil and that this kind of manipulation of the system is not just a bloodless crime that takes place on paper, but one instead that takes a staggering toll." White collar crime isn't a hypothetical wrong; there are people who got hurt by Mr. Madoff, people who thought they were setting themselves up for a comfortable old age. At most, they were guilty of greed, but Mr. Madoff played to that weakness.

Former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers and former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling are jailed at low-security facilities serving sentences far shorter than the one Mr. Madoff faces. They committed crimes comparable to Mr. Madoff's, yet they won't die in prison. The fact that the judge and jury got it wrong in those instances is no reason to let Mr. Madoff of the hook. His 150-year sentence merely says that there are some things that are beyond the pale. While it is true that 30 years would have been enough to see him die in prison, 150 years says that John Dillinger did less harm that Bernie Madoff. The only differences are that Mr. Dillinger used a gun, not a pen, to rob his victims -- and got far less money.

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