Madoff won't appeal 150-year prison sentence

• Source: Xinhua
• [12:20 July 10 2009]
• Comments

Arch swindler Bernard Madoff won't appeal his 150-year prison sentence, his attorney said on Thursday.

Financier Bernard Madoff, 71, pleaded guilty to 11 criminal counts in the biggest investment fraud in history. He was sentenced on June 29 for masterminding the largest US Ponzi scheme ever.

"We are not going to be appealing," Madoff's main lawyer Ira Lee Sorkin said. "That's our decision and we have no further comment."

Prosecutors said the money manager told clients they had as much as 65 billion dollars invested with him. The government has so far documented losses of about 13 billion dollars.

Madoff is now jailed in a prison about 70 miles northwest of New York City that houses 1,100 inmates.