I spent today at court in lower Manhattan watching Bernie Madoff being jailed. Here is my account of it for the FT:
The end of Bernie Madoff’s liberty came swiftly. “It is my intention to remand Mr Madoff. I do not need to hear from the government,” said Judge Denny Chin briskly, a second after Ira Sorkin, Mr Madoff’s attorney, had ended his hopeless plea for his client to remain on bail.
There were a few claps from some of Mr Madoff’s victims in the courtroom in the 24th floor federal courtroom in lower Manhattan, swiftly muted in deference to the no-nonsense judge. After a minute or two for Judge Chin to deny Mr Sorkin’s appeal for a stay, the hour-long hearing was over.
Mr Madoff rose from his seat in the green-carpeted courtroom and held both his hands steadily behind his back to be handcuffed. Then he was led from the court to prison for the first time, for a massive Ponzi scheme which lasted decades and crossed continents; and was uncovered in December.
During the hearing Mr Madoff had sat still, except when he rose to make his guilty plea and give a serene account of his crimes, but it took handcuffs to still his hands.
They darted and fluttered constantly, adjusting his tie, buttoning and unbuttoning the jacket of his suit, smoothing his grey hair, and moving his papers around on the table in front of him. Even the act of twisting off the top of his water bottle with his left hand to drink was executed with deft precision.
You can read the rest of the piece here.
