Word: madoff
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Anthony Barkow is the executive director of New York University Law School's Center on the Administration of Criminal Law. Before that he spent 12 years as a federal prosecutor, first in Washington and then in the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, which is handling the Madoff case. TIME's Stephen Gandel asked Barkow about Monday's ruling and why most white-collar criminals get to stay out of prison on bail while other accused people are often sent right to the slammer. (See the top 10 scandals...
...think the judge decided to allow Madoff to remain out on bail? Because the conditions already imposed on Madoff are quite stringent. He is on a 24-hour house arrest with an electronic bracelet and round-the-clock monitoring of his building by a security firm. That's as strict as you can get without detention. Also, the terms of the bail in the civil case, not the criminal case, prohibited Madoff from moving assets. Monday's bail hearing pertained to the criminal case...
...would prosecutors be so worried about Madoff shipping jewelry to relatives? There are several reasons. One could be because he is hiding assets, so he can flee and live off them. Even though the million dollars or so in jewelry is a drop in the bucket compared to what he defrauded victims of, it is enough money to live off when you are on the lam. The second reason would be that he could be shipping assets around to avoid paying restitution later. Third, the things we've just talked about show that he is someone who would disobey court...
...think it hurts the prosecutors' case that Madoff was charged with this massive crime, and then the next few days he was seen walking around smiling? I don't think it hurts the government in court, but I think it definitely inflamed public opinion. That led to an outcry that he should have been jailed in the first place and some media disagreement with the government's opinion not to seek detention in the first place...
...that play into the government's decision to come back to the judge and ask for Madoff to be jailed? I don't think so. I know the prosecutors who made these decisions, and they are straight shooters who are not influenced by public opinion. I think they made a reasonable calculation the first time, and I think Madoff's flagrant disobeyance is good grounds to rethink that...