June 23, 2009 12:25 PM

Bernie Madoff's Lawyer Thinks 12 Years Should Suffice

Posted by Brian Baxter

A 12-year prison sentence for Bernard Madoff sounds about right. That's what Madoff's lawyer says in an 11-page letter to a federal judge in Manhattan, urging him to ignore the "hysteria" surrounding the case against the disgraced investment manager.

Am Law Daily sibling publication the New York Law Journal reports that Ira Lee Sorkin of Dickstein Shapiro argued that a 15-to-20-year sentence could serve as an ideal fallback option, accomplishing the goals of sentencing laws "without disproportionately punishing" his client.

"We seek neither mercy nor sympathy," Sorkin said at a hearing, adding that Madoff will "speak to the shame he has felt and to the pain he has caused" at a sentencing hearing before U.S. district court judge Denny Chin on June 29.

The NYLJ reports that Sorkin also noted the "significant anger and resentment" expressed in hundreds of gut-wrenching statements by Madoff victims submitted to the court by assistant U.S. attorneys Marc Litt and Lisa Baroni. (Click here for 141 pages of victims' letters and e-mails.)

Sorkin said he was grateful that none of the "fury expressed in the victim statements" was as shocking as the "death threats and anti-Semitic e-mails" that have been sent to Madoff and his counsel at Dickstein Shapiro.

"Nevertheless, we believe that the unified tone of the victim statements suggests a desire for a type of mob vengeance that, if countenanced here, would negate and render meaningless the role of the court," Sorkin said.

The 71-year-old Madoff faces a maximum sentence of 150 years in prison, making it highly unlikely he'll ever see the light of day, lest we somehow see a real-life version of a Weekend at Bernie's come to life.

On Monday, the SEC and a court-appointed trustee unveiled civil suits against an alleged Madoff feeder fund, three of its executives, and a California-based investment adviser.

Vinson & Elkins and New York's Arkin Kaplan Rice are representing some of the defendants in those actions.

Photo: U.S. Department of Justice

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