Madoff Violates Parole-- Caught Stashing Away A Million Dollars In Valuables

Earlier today we suggested that perhaps if wealthy corporate criminals who steal, say $50 billion, were dealt with the same way the low grade street criminals are treated, maybe there would be less corporate criminals preying on society. I don't expect anyone to be as enthusiastic about the use of the death penalty for the Enron and Madoff types as I am but I was happy to see that when Madoff was caught sending at least a million dollars in jewels away-- clearly to evade an injunction freezing his assets-- the government decided maybe he actually should be in jail after all, instead of under house arrest in the palatial $7 million Manhattan apartment he bought with money he's been bilking out of investors.

Madoff disposed of five items including “very valuable jewelry,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Litt said today in Manhattan federal court. The government has three of the items, Litt told U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis. Defense lawyer Ira Sorkin said the objects, including watches and cuff links, were heirlooms innocently sent to Madoff’s relatives. Sorkin said he told his client to retrieve them and alerted the government.

...At today’s bail hearing, Litt argued the mailing of the valuables by Madoff and his wife Ruth began Dec. 24, violating an agreement to freeze his assets as part of a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit.

“The bail conditions that were originally set by this court haven’t been violated one iota,” Sorkin responded in court, adding that he learned of the government revocation bid today.

Litt argued that the dispersal of the valuables constituted a risk to investors and the public that justified imprisonment before trial. He said that the likelihood that Madoff would be eventually imprisoned increased his risk of flight.

“The case against the defendant is strong, and it’s getting stronger,” the prosecutor said, making it more likely Madoff will flee. The transfer was an “obstruction of justice.”

It's beyond belief to me that a cold blooded predator who steals $50 billion and jeopardizes scores of banks, charities, schools and businesses is allowed to relax in his luxurious home while the poor man who, proverbially, steals a loaf of bread to feed his starving family is tossed in jail. It's another example of the wealthy taking care of their own. America has become so corrupt and out of whack that it sometimes appears to be approaching the point where nothing will save it from what it has become. And who is investigating him in Congress? A committee led by an ethically-challenged crooked congressman, Paul Kanjorski.