UPDATED 11:58 A.M. EDT (U.S.A.) Accused Ponzi swindler Bernard Madoff has pleaded guilty to 11 criminal charges and faces up to 150 years in prison.
CNN is reporting that U.S. District Judge Denny Chin of Manhattan accepted the plea. Chin ordered Madoff to jail immediately. The courtroom, packed with victims, erupted in applause.
Madoff, 70, will be formally sentenced June 16. Prosecutors now say as much as $65 billion might have been involved in the crime, which continued unrestrained for years.
Madoff told the judge that he never invested clients’ money, instead depositing it directly into a bank, CNN reported. It was an acknowledgement that Madoff was running a pure Ponzi scheme that sucked away billions of dollars of wealth from individuals, charities, endowments and retirement funds.