Bernard Madoff, who defrauded investors of more than $19 billion in history’s biggest Ponzi scheme, won’t be released early from his 150-year prison sentence.
U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan on Thursday rejected Madoff’s request for compassionate release on the grounds that he is terminally ill and likely to die in the next 18 months. After Madoff, 82, submitted his plea for his freedom in February, 520 of his victims wrote to the court, with 96% of them arguing against his early release.
