Written by Jason Fink with Newsday
Bernie Madoff will learn today whether he will die in prison. A few victims of the disgraced Wall Street financier, who faces a maximum 150 years in prison, will get their chance to tell Judge Denny Chin of the havoc the fraudster wreaked on their lives. Some of the thousand of other victims have already written to the court pleading for a harsh sentence. “He has condemned his investors to a life of hell.” wrote Emma DeVita of Pennsylvania, who said she invested with Madoff for 20 years and is now broke.
Hundreds are expected to descend on the lower Manhattan Federal courthouse where Madoff, 71, will be sentenced. His attorney Ira Sorkin has asked for 12 years, arguing that Madoff’s life expectancy is only another 13.
Prosecutors have asked that everything Madoff owns, including the substantial assets of his wife Ruth be surrendered. The money will be used to compensate the victims. While the last statements Madoff sent to investors in November totaled $65 billion, investors believe the true losses will run $13 billion to $21 billion. One attorney who has represented white-collar criminals said he expects Madoff to help prosecutors recover some of the money he stole – as well as provide information about any co-conspirators – in exchange for a reduction in the sentence after it’s handed down.
“He has to get some benefit or else why not just have a big circus of a trial?” said lawyer Matthew Myers.
Pro Boxer Edgar Santana Busted As Part Of Alleged Major Cocaine Ring
By Teri Thompson, Michael O’Keeffe And Nathaniel Vinton
Daily News Sports Writers
Updated Friday, July 18th 2008, 4:58 PM
(Originally published on July 18 at 10:12 a.m.)
Edgar Santana, the junior welterweight boxer often billed as “The Pride of Spanish Harlem,” was arrested Friday as part of an alleged international cocaine distribution ring busted by the New York Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor and the New York Office of the DEA.
Santana, 29, was picked up at his home at the George Washington Carver Houses on 102nd St. in Spanish Harlem in the early morning hours Friday. Friends and acquaintances were stunned.
“Everybody has been blindsided by this whole thing because it’s just not something that you would think Edgar could be involved in,” said Ernesto Dallas, Santana’s manager for the last six years.
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NEW YORK – A federal immigration official who was recorded demanding sex from a young Colombian woman in exchange for a green card was arrested on corruption charges, prosecutors said Friday.
The woman, who is married to an American citizen, said she gave in to one demand for oral sex because she was afraid, but she also used a mobile phone hidden in her purse to record the December encounter and the conversation that preceded it.
Days later she went to a The New York Times to tell her story. She also called the district attorney’s office.
“I want sex,” he said on the recording, according to the Times. “One or two times. That’s all. You get your green card. You won’t have to see me anymore.”
Queens prosecutors said Isaac R. Baichu, an adjudication officer at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Garden City, threatened to hold up the woman’s application and even deport her relatives if she didn’t acquiesce.
Baichu was arrested March 11 after meeting with the woman again, this time with prosecutors listening in.
His attorney did not immediately return phone messages Friday.
Baichu faces misdemeanor charges of coercion and sexual misconduct and a felony charge of receiving a reward for official misconduct. A judge released him on a $15,000 bond.
Baichu was suspended immediately after his arrest, and his pay will be halted, Citizenship and Immigration spokesman Shawn Saucier said. Baichu was hired three years ago and made about $50,000 annually.
By Laura Italiano
An alleged cyber-sicko accused of posing online as a co-ed to trick college women into sending him their nude photos has hired a top forensic shrink to prove he’s just a harmless nerd.
Chubby Hunter College student Elvin Chuang, 20, of Brooklyn, is trying to avoid a possible 16-month prison sentence on charges of identity theft, coercion, fraud and general larceny.
He’s hoping an examination by forensic psychologist N.G. Berill, scheduled for Monday, will convince a Manhattan judge that he isn’t really dangerous and shouldn’t be jailed at all.
Berill has consulted on numerous high-profile criminals, including serial killer Joel Rifkin, LIRR mass murderer Colin Ferguson and Abner Louima torture cop Justin Volpe.
“We’re hoping he’ll find my client is not a predator, but is more or less doing this as a college prank” said his lawyer Matthew Myers.
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Fotog Was Louse Who Got The Cheese
By Barbara Ross
Friday, August 18th 2006, 7:20AM
A FRENCH photographer admitted in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday that he ripped off his former roommate of thousands of dollars by pretending to be in financial deals with celebrities like Madonna.
As part of a plea deal, Alexis Quinlin, 46, will be sentenced next month to serve 2 1/2 to 7 1/2 years in prison, and he will have to pay an undetermined amount of money back to two dozen other friends he also swindled.
Although Manhattan prosecutors said in May that Quinlin stole $3.9 million, his lawyer, Matthew Myers, said yesterday that the amount was closer to $325,000.
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