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New York. More than 100 victims of failed financier Bernard L. Madoff’s multibillion-dollar fraud have urged a judge to sentence him harshly, saying he ruined their lives, leaving many of them depressed, bitter and hopeless.

In 113 statements, the victims from across the country repeatedly referred to the 71-year-old Madoff as a “monster” who, as one victim put it, had “no soul, no remorse, no conscience.”

Letter after letter urged US District Judge Denny Chin to sentence Madoff to the maximum 150 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in March to securities fraud, perjury and other charges.

Madoff, who has been jailed since he entered his guilty plea, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29.

Thousands of people lost billions of dollars investing with Madoff, who authorities say confessed to his sons in early December that he had been running a giant Ponzi scheme for decades in which early investors were paid with money collected from later investors.

In the letters, victims urged Chin to show no mercy for the man they described alternately as “wicked,” “cruel,” “amoral,” “heartless, “ruthless,” and “arrogant.” One letter called Madoff one of the most hated men in the world.

Some of them criticized the government for not doing more to help them. And they reacted angrily at being portrayed in some published reports as greedy, saying they passed up riskier investments promising higher returns for the steady profits reported by Madoff.

They urged investigators to keep pursuing probes of Madoff’s family members on the belief that some of them had to know about the fraud or had a role in it.

Ira Sorkin, Madoff’s lawyer, said any comment he would make in response to the letters would be made in writing to the judge prior to the sentencing.

Dozens of retired investors said they were forced to look for work after the loss of their investments resulted in them having to sell their homes. Several said they had heard of suicides as a result of the extreme anguish caused by the loss of life savings.

Kathleen Bignell of Gunnison, Colorado, said she told her 89-year-old father he cannot die because she no longer has money to bury him. She said Madoff “ought to be able to look forward to just exactly what he has done to us. No hope, no future and no forgiveness.”

Morton J. Chalek of Port Jefferson Station, New York, wrote: “I am 86 years old. I have a broken knee, I have lung cancer and thanks to Madoff, I am now bankrupt.”

Jesse L. Cohen of Summit, New Jersey, told Chin to give him one year off his sentence “for every one billion dollars of hidden money that he reveals. In lieu of that, please make sure that the facility in which he rots is extremely uncomfortable.”



Associated Press