Jun 29, 2009 7:54 pm US/Eastern
Victims Find Little Comfort In Madoff's Sentence
Disgraced Broker Sentenced To 150 Years In Prison After Asking Judge For 12-Year Term
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Financier Bernard Madoff arrives at Manhattan Federal court on March 12, 2009, in New York City.
Stephen Chernin/Getty Images
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They trusted him, and he betrayed them.
Bernard Madoff's victims have waited a long time for this day, watching as the disgraced financier was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Many lost their entire life savings in Madoff's scam.
"Justice was done," Madoff victim Burt Ross says. "This has nothing to do with revenge or vengeance."
Ross, of Englewood, New Jersey, says he broke down as he spoke before the judge Monday about losing $5 million that he invested with Madoff. Ross says Madoff's apology in court meant nothing.
"He violated trust, his friendships, and all loyalty – just so he could stay at the finest hotels and fly around in his private jets," Ross says. "He has truly earned his reputation for being the most despised American today."
"I think 150 years was a very fair sentence," victim Norma Hill says. "He should never, ever see the light of day."
Though Madoff was sentenced to the maximum of 150 years, many victims say not even a lifetime is enough time behind bars after how he devastated their lives. Miriam Siegman says she lost everything.
"I'm on food stamps, I scavenge in dumpsters," Siegman says. "Our sentences are life sentences."
"Nothing is going to bring back everybody's retirement fund, their kid's college fund, and these charities and pension plans," Chelsea victim Jennifer Meerow says. "I mean, that would be justice."
"I do wish he were 21 years old, so that he'd be serving much more time," Stephanie Halio, another Madoff victim, says.
Dozens of Madoff's former investors, who call themselves the Survivors Group, gathered in Foley Square after the sentencing to support each other and bring attention to what they say is a need for regulatory reform.
"In our terms, this is the beginning – it's not an end, it's not closure," investor Judith Welling says. "It's a beginning, maybe, to trying to restore some faith in our financial system."
For many of the victims, Monday's sentencing doesn't mark the end of the Bernard Madoff story. Though they say he will undoubtedly spend the rest of his life behind bars, they will spend the rest of their lives trying to get back all they lost.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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