White-Collar Crime
Second Judge Refuses Request to Jail Madoff, Saying Flight Risk ‘Close to Nil’
Posted Jan 15, 2009, 06:33 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A second judge has refused to revoke bail for accused financier Bernard Madoff.
Ruling in an appeal by prosecutors, U.S. District Judge Lawrence McKenna said the possibility that Madoff will flee is as "close to nil as you can get at this point," the New York Law Journal reports. McKenna also said that home confinement and 24-hour scrutiny “make it close to impossible” for Madoff to dispose of any assets.
Prosecutors had argued Madoff tried to violate the conditions of his $10 million bond by sending expensive jewelry to family members. Madoff’s defense lawyer, Ira Sorkin, told McKenna that the jewelry incident was "a desperate and futile effort" by Madoff to "reconnect" with his family, the Washington Post reports.
Madoff is accused of losing $50 billion in hedge-fund investors’ money through a Ponzi scheme. He appeared in court Wednesday wearing a bulletproof vest. The New York Times DealBook blog had a photo and the observation that the vest “was color-coordinated with his dark suit.”
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