Bernard Madoff, accused mastermind of a $50 billion financial fraud, is expected to plead guilty on Thursday to 11 criminal charges that could put him in jail for the rest of his life. He was charged in court papers with securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, false statements and perjury among other charges. US prosecutor Marc Litt said there was no plea agreement with Madoff, accused of bilking thousands of investors worldwide over many years. The prosecutor told US District Judge Denny Chin at a hearing that Madoff could face up to 150 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. The judge said he would sentence Madoff in several months in the event of a guilty plea. In court, Madoff's attorney Ira Lee Sorkin said there was an expectation that Madoff, 70, would plead guilty on Thursday to the criminal charges.At the court hearing in New York over potential conflicts of interest for Sorkin, Madoff said “Yes, I am” when asked by the judge whether he was satisfied with his attorney continuing to represent him. Prosecutors asked US District Judge Denny Chin to rule on the potential conflict on Tuesday to clear the way for another highly anticipated proceeding Thursday. Madoff is expected to avoid going to trial by pleading guilty in perhaps the largest securities fraud case in history. Madoff investors to speak At least 25 Madoff investors have asked to speak Thursday under oft-overlooked provisions allowing victims of crime to appear at a defendant's plea hearing. Attorney Jerry Reisman, who represents more than a dozen Madoff investors, predicted that Thursday's hearing would be “a zoo.” “I will tell you my clients are outraged by his being able to escape with a guilty plea,” he said. Although Tuesday's hearing was expected to be largely procedural, the courthouse was using it as a dry run for Thursday, showing the proceedings on a large screen in a second courtroom and in the juror assembly room, which can fit hundreds of people. In papers filed Tuesday, prosecutors for the first time detailed the financial ties between Madoff and defense attorney Ira Sorkin. They said Madoff should be asked to voluntarily waive his right to conflict-free representation. The investment “could put Mr. Sorkin in a position where his loyalties are divided between Mr. Madoff on the one hand, and his sons and their financial interest on the other,” prosecutors wrote. “The government believes, however, that any potential conflict arising out of the financial interests of Mr. Sorkin's sons is waivable.” The papers said Sorkin's parents had invested approximately $900,000 with Madoff to create trust accounts for Sorkin's two sons. They said Sorkin has told the government that he is a trustee of the sons' trust accounts but has never had a beneficial interest in the money. Prosecutors also noted that Sorkin once invested $18,860 with Madoff through a retirement account in the early 1990s. They said, however, that they did not believe this represented a conflict because it was liquidated more than a decade ago. The government said the pair's accounting firm, Avellion and Bienes, was dissolved after it settled accusations in 1993 by the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had sold unregistered securities and operated as an unregistered investment company from 1962 to 1992. Prosecutors said Madoff has had a long-standing business relationship with Avellino and Bienes and that money Avellino and Bienes raised from their clients was invested with Madoff. US prosecutors have said Madoff, free on $10 million bail but under 24-hour house arrest and electronic surveillance in his luxury Manhattan apartment, ran a massive Ponzi scheme. The purported swindle ran for decades with consistent returns of between 10 and 12 percent, but collapsed in last year's market meltdown.
