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Madoff Sent to N.C. Prison to Begin 150-Year Sentence
By Cary O’Reilly and David Glovin
July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Con man Bernard Madoff arrived at the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, to begin serving his 150-year sentence for fraud and money laundering, a Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman said.
The agency yesterday transferred Madoff, 71, from a high- security lockup in Manhattan, where he’s been since his March 12 guilty plea, to the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. Madoff left that facility this morning and arrived at Butner shortly after 11:15 a.m., bureau spokesman Greg Norton said.
Madoff will be assigned today to one of five housing units, where he will live in “dormitory style housing,†Norton said. If healthy enough, he’ll be given a job. Norton declined to say whether Madoff may eventually be transferred to another prison. “This is where he’s been designated to be,†Norton said.
The Butner Federal Correctional Complex, located northeast of Durham, North Carolina, houses 4,874 inmates including Adelphia Communications Corp. founder John Rigas and his son Timothy, who are serving their sentences in Butner’s low- security prison. In 2004, the Rigases were found guilty of leading one of the largest U.S. corporate frauds. Adelphia was once the fifth-largest U.S. cable-television company.
“It’s one of the better ones,†Rigas attorney Lawrence McMichael, who visits his clients monthly, said of the prison. “It’s one of the new ones in the federal system. The staff is very good there. But it’s still prison.â€
$65 Billion
Madoff, who’s being placed in the medium-security section of Butner and has been assigned prisoner number 61727-054, is projected to be released on Nov. 14, 2139, 20 years less than scheduled, according to the bureau’s Web site.
Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 counts and got the maximum sentence on each. He received 20 years for two counts of international money laundering, as well as for single counts of securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, and making a false statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He must serve the sentences consecutively.
Prosecutors said the money manager told clients they had as much as $65 billion invested with him. The government has documented losses of about $13 billion. Madoff isn’t appealing his sentence.
Charles Ponzi, whose later fraud became part of the financial lexicon, and prohibition-era mobster Al Capone were once incarcerated in the Atlanta facility where Madoff was briefly processed.
Also housed at the Butner prison are Franklin Brown, 81, a former Rite Aid Corp. chief counsel who is serving 10 years for accounting fraud, and Jonathan Pollard, 54, who was convicted of spying for Israel and is serving a life sentence.
The criminal case is U.S. v. Madoff, 09-cr-00213, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
To contact the reporter on this story: Cary O’Reilly in Washington at caryoreilly@bloomberg.net; David Glovin in New York federal court at dglovin@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: July 14, 2009 13:59 EDT
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