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.
QUEENS, NY (WABC News) — A Queens teacher is under arrest Wednesday, accused of sexually abusing a student.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says a 48-year-old teacher at a Springfield Gardens middle school, abused a 14-year-old boy in a classroom after school hours.
“The charges are very disturbing,” Brown said. “A classroom should always be a safe place for a child. If true, this teacher destroyed his student’s trust.”
The teacher, of the Hollis section of Queens, was employed as a teacher at Intermediate School. He was suspended during the pendency of the criminal case.
MSG Result: On June 23, 2009, after a two week trial, the teacher was acquitted of all criminal charges.
Attorney for the defense: Matthew D. Myers
Background Check At Time of Arrest Reveals Defendant Wanted On Rape Charges in Pennsylvania
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
QUEENS COUNTY
125-01 QUEENS BOULEVARD
KEW GARDENS, NEW YORK 11415-1568
718-286-6000
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that a former mortgage company employee whose civil lawsuit against the New York City Transit Authority was placed on hold earlier this year after the judge declared a mistrial and referred the matter to the District Attorney’s office for possible prosecution for fraud has, in fact, been charged with submitting false claims to the Transit Authority for which he received more than $16,000 in lost wages following a bus accident. In addition, while being processed prior to his arraignment, it was revealed that the defendant is wanted on a Pennsylvania warrant for an alleged 2004 rape.
District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant is accused of filing a false claim with the New York City Transit Authority for wages he said he lost after being unable to work in the aftermath of a bus accident. Claims like those allegedly filed in this case take money out of the pockets of all New Yorkers. While allegedly stealing from this agency is bad enough, it turns out that a warrant had been issued for the defendant who is wanted for the alleged rape of a minor in Pennsylvania.”
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By LUKAS I. ALPERT
Posted: 5:08 am
August 23, 2008
He was more Gargamel than Papa Smurf.
The man who helped bring the Smurfs to America was busted yesterday for allegedly trying to shake down his son-in-law – a deep-pocketed executive at a top private equity firm – for $11 million, authorities said.
Stuart Ross, 71, of Aventura, Fla., was charged with unleashing a campaign of harassment against his son-in-law David Blitzer, a senior managing director at the Blackstone Group, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced.
Ross’s 79-year-old New York attorney, Stuart Jackson, was also charged with attempted grand larceny for his role in the scheme. Both face up to seven years in prison.
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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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