A little jail time might be good for him

The New York Times has an article by Alex Berenson about Madoff's stupidity:

Contending that Bernard L. Madoff sent at least a million dollars worth of jewelry as gifts to family members and friends last month, federal prosecutors asked a judge on Monday to revoke his bail and send him to jail. Mr. Madoff, who has been free after posting bail of $10 million when he was charged last month with securities fraud, remained free after the hearing pending a ruling by the magistrate judge. United States Attorney Marc Litt asked for revocation of Mr. Madoff’s bail, arguing that the gifts violated conditions that barred him from disposing of any of his assets. The newly aggressive stance by prosecutors appeared to represent a serious deterioration in relations between the government and Mr. Madoff.
While Mr. Madoff faced the potential loss of his freedom in New York, the Securities and Exchange Commission came under heavy criticism from lawmakers in Washington. At a hearing, members of a House committee questioned why the agency had not uncovered Mr. Madoff’s fraud long before early December, when he is said to have confessed it to FBI agents.
At the court hearing in New York, Mr. Litt told Judge Ellis that Mr. Madoff and his wife, Ruth, had mailed packages of valuables in late December to his sons, his brother, and friends. By sending the packages, Mr. Madoff violated the terms of his bail agreement with the government, Mr. Litt said. He said that Mr. Madoff was a flight risk and asked that his bail be revoked immediately. “The case against the defendant is strong and it continues to grow stronger as the government’s investigation continues,” Mr. Litt said. “Given the defendant’s age, the length of the likely sentence, the strength of the proof against the defendant, including his confessions, these facts present a clear risk of flight.”
Ira Sorkin, a lawyer for Mr. Madoff, said at the hearing that Mr. Madoff had not meant to violate the agreement and should not be sent to jail. Mr. Madoff is not a flight risk, and he and his wife tried to recover the valuables after speaking to their lawyers and realizing they should not have mailed them, Mr. Sorkin said. But Mr. Sorkin disavowed earlier statements that Mr. Madoff was cooperating with prosecutors and FBI agents. “No one ever said he was cooperating with the government,” Mr. Sorkin said.
Mr. Madoff told FBI agents last month that he had overseen a financial fraud that had cost investors as much as $50 billion, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan. The fraud was continuing just days before Mr. Madoff confessed it to the FBI.
Judge Ellis, who is overseeing the criminal case that prosecutors filed last month, did not make an immediate decision on the government’s request to revoke Mr. Madoff’s bail. The allegations about the gifts came just days after the disclosure that Mr. Madoff was still accepting investor funds in the days leading up to the fund’s collapse. In documents filed in United States Bankruptcy Court last week, a family corporation set up by Martin Rosenman, a resident of Great Neck, New York, and the president of Stuyvesant Fuel Service, a heating oil distributor in the New York area, invested $10 million in the Madoff funds on 5 December. On 9 December, two days before Mr. Madoff was arrested, Mr. Rosenman was notified by the Madoff firm that his money had been received and invested, according to Mr. Rosenman’s lawyer, Howard Kleinhendler of Wachtel & Masyr.
Last week, Mr. Madoff’s sons, Andrew and Mark, received three packages, containing valuable jewelry and watches, as well as inexpensive items like cuff links and mittens, according to a person briefed on the contents of the packages. Within minutes of receiving the packages, Mr. Madoff’s sons called the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, & Garrison, which is representing them, to tell them about the packages, this person said. Lawyers for Paul, Weiss then informed prosecutors of the packages and offered to pass them to the government. Prosecutors accepted the offer.
At the bail hearing, Mr. Sorkin, Mr. Madoff’s lawyer, said other packages had been sent to Peter Madoff, Bernard’s brother, as well as an unnamed couple who live in New York but were vacationing in Florida. He said many of the items were relatively inexpensive, including a pair of $25 cuff links and $200 mittens.

Rico says mittens, he sent them mittens? Well, they did cost $200...