Madoff to hear prison term today

06-29-2009 | REUTERS

The disgraced banker will read a statement before the court passes sentence

Panama Star NEW YORK. Bernard Madoff, who became a symbol of greed in the financial crisis for masterminding Wall Street's biggest investment fraud, faces the rest of his life in prison in one of the stiffest punishments for white-collar crime when he is sentenced on Monday.

The courtroom drama will unfold with the swindler hearing angry defrauded investors speak of their financial ruin. As he makes what could be his final appearance in public, Madoff, 71, will read a statement before a judge hands down a decision.

"Mr. Madoff has been very stone-faced throughout the whole process. He doesn't seem to have a lot of remorse," said Anthony Sabino, professor of law and business at St. John's University. "To date, he has refused to implicate anyone else." More than six months after Madoff's arrest, U.S. prosecutors remain uncertain how much was involved, such was the complexity of the financial web he wove around the world.