Chin said he felt diversity on the bench was a valuable goal, since it may help some plaintiffs or defendants understand that the legal system represents them as well. Soon after, Tom Fitzmaurice quoted his wife as saying, I cry every day when I see the look of pain and despair in my husband's eyes. While he said stereotypes about Asian-Americans still exist and sometimes rise to the surface, women, for example, may face more challenges in battling discrimination. Administrative Oversight and Accountability, Director of Workplace Relations Contacts by Circuit, Fact Sheet for Workplace Protections in the Federal Judiciary, Chronological History of Authorized Judgeships - Courts of Appeals, Chronological History of Authorized Judgeships - District Courts. Judge Chin agreed to an extensive series of interviews as part of a broader look into his sentencings in Federal District Court in Manhattan, which will appear in a later article. 2023 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. [9] In 1986, Chin left the U.S. Attorney's Office and started a law firm, Campbell, Patrick & Chin, with two colleagues from the U.S. Attorney's Office. The scam involved an estimated $65bn, a figure that included gains Mr Madoff's clients believed they had made due to fake account statements. Bernie Madoff, the financier who pleaded guilty to orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, died in a federal prison Wednesday, the federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed to CBS News. To Judge Chin, Mr. Madoff seemed sad, almost as if he were grieving. The judge, explaining why he had rejected the defenses request for a substantially shorter sentence, provided two reasons why the symbolism of a much longer term was important: to send the strongest possible message of deterrence, and to help the victims heal. Chin wrote that a reasonable jury could find there was no legitimate law enforcement need for a heavily armed SWAT team to extract a 56-year-old prosecutor from his home when he was not accused of any actual violence and was not believed to have a gun. He said he struggled to find the right number the just sentence, as he described it. Bruce Baron, a lawyer for Patricia Conradt, said: "This decision shows no one is above the law, no matter how powerful.". But what the agency never found out was that behind the scenes, in a separate office kept under lock and key, Madoff was secretly spinning a web of phantom wealth by using cash from new investors to pay returns to old ones. Madoff admitted to committing securities fraud via a Ponzi scheme starting in the early 1990s, which involved potentially as much as $65 billion. After the meeting, a lawyer for the family contacted regulators, who alerted federal prosecutors and the FBI. Judge Chin also learned that day that Mr. Madoff would plead guilty to all 11 counts against him, including fraud, money laundering and perjury. At Madoff's sentencing in June 2009, wrathful former clients stood to demand the maximum punishment. Weighing victim emails Typing on a computer in chambers, and on a laptop at home, Judge Chin continued preparing a draft of the statement that he would read in court. He invited them in, and then confessed after being asked if theres an innocent explanation, a criminal complaint said. "Here, the message must be sent that Mr. Madoff's crimes were extraordinarily evil and that this kind of irresponsible manipulation of the system is not merely a bloodless financial crime that takes place just on paper, but it is instead one that takes a staggering human toll," Chin said. Chin tossed out many of Patricia Conradt's claims but said her principal claims could proceed to trial. "But I did not believe he was genuinely remorseful," he recalled. On the other hand, because he is one of few Asian-American federal judges, "I know that I have to do a good job, because I know that if I screw up, it's not just me," it will be the "Chinese judge" that screwed up. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images hide caption. Money launderers 'prey on generation Covid', Human error to blame for train crash - Greek PM, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. Judge Denny Chin denied Mr Madoff's request, noting many victims were still suffering due to their financial losses. All Rights Reserved. Mr. IRWIN CANTOR: I'm a professional loser, yeah. More than 15,400 claims against Madoff were filed. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. His clients, many Jews like Madoff and Jewish charities, said they didn't know. Splitting the baby, to me, was sending the wrong message, he said. He is now a United States circuit judge for the Second Circuit. Madoff was sent to do what amounted to a life sentence at Butner Federal Correctional Complex, about 45 miles northwest of Raleigh, North Carolina. Please enter valid email address to continue. He had also received an e-mail that day from Gabriel W. Gorenstein, a magistrate judge who had reached into the wooden wheel that is used to randomly assign cases in the courthouse and selected an envelope that contained Judge Chins name. His brother, Peter, who helped run the business, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2012, despite claims he was in the dark about his brothers misdeeds. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Cheers and applause erupted from the gallery as Chin announced the verdict. Madoff himself spoke in a monotone for about 10 minutes. Judge Denny Chin: Born To Run Time for a quick break from Biglaw and bonuses. The benefits of giving him hope were far outweighed by all of the other considerations.. Madoff investor George Nierenberg thought the reason Madoff spoke to the victims might have been something he said at Madoff's plea hearing several months ago. When Klayman appealed, the 2nd Circuit affirmed Chin's sanctions. MIKE PESCA: Thirteen billion dollars - that is the most conservative estimate of the amount of money Bernard Madoff stole. Judge Denny Chin explains his reasoning. ", "I'm terminally ill," he said. He cheated his victims out of their money so he and his wife could live a life of luxury beyond belief.. But I did not believe he was genuinely remorseful, he recalled. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Judge Chin, who joined the Second Circuit bench in 2010, recalls how he moved from Hong Kong to New York City at the age of 2. An old IBM computer cranked out monthly statements showing steady double-digit returns, even during market downturns. / CBS/AP. The judge ultimately concluded that even that would have been just way too low., In the end, I just thought he didnt deserve it, he said. [16], In Fox v. Franken, Chin denied Fox News Channel (who alleged a trademark violation) an injunction against Al Franken's Book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. There was yet another home in the south of France, private jets and a yacht. Updated on: April 14, 2021 / 7:00 PM [18] Larry Stewart was acquitted by a jury. Another dilemma, he said, rested in the fact that because none of the counts against Mr. Madoff carried a sentence of life imprisonment (indeed, none carried more than 20 years), he could not impose a conventional life sentence. Denny Chin, Southern District of New York Court site, "Chin Shares Experiences as Federal District Court Judge, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Denny_Chin&oldid=1133235341, This page was last edited on 12 January 2023, at 20:46. Although he went through an extensive background check, "my confirmation hearing took about five minutes, maybe three minutes it was that simple.". Denny Chin is a federal judge on senior status with the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. [27], United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States, Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Third Congress, First Session on Confirmations of Appointees to the Federal Judiciary, Part 4, "President Obama Nominates Judge Denny Chin for United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson for United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit", "Judge Who Sentenced Madoff to Be Nominated to Higher Court", "Obama names Madoff case judge to fill Sotomayor spot", "U.S. District Judge Denny Chin to Address Spring 2009 Law Graduates", "The Old Ones of Chinatown: A Study of the Elderly Chinese", "Denny Chin | Office of the Executive Vice President", "Judicial Nomination Materials: 111th Congress", "On the Nomination (Confirmation Denny Chin, of New York, to be U.S. He was not bound by that figure, and he considered going beneath it, he said. Afterward, Ruth Madoff often a target of victims' scorn since her husband's arrest broke her silence that same day by issuing a statement claiming that she, too, had been misled by her high school sweetheart. By giving Bernard L. Madoff a term of 150 years, Judge Denny Chin seemed to find a way to translate society's rage into a number. With the sentencing of Bernard L. Madoff only a week away, Judge Denny Chin received a letter from Mr. Madoffs lawyer asking for a prison term substantially below the 150-year maximum. "I dug myself deeper into a hole" as the scheme progressed, Madoff said, adding that he would "live with this pain, this torment, for the rest of my life.". "Is there rampant racism? His criminal behavior devastated the lives of his victims, leading to suicides, bankruptcies and home losses. But it also took a toll in more personal terms. Ruth is still living. Klayman explained that he and his client were concerned that Chin had ruled against them because Klayman had engaged in activities that some had portrayed as being anti-Asian. Part of the reason life tenure is so important is so that judges will not be unduly influenced by public opinion, he said, although he is careful to consider both sides of an issue in his judgments. Madoff "made a very good impression," Wiesel said during a 2009 panel discussion on the scandal. Other corporate victims were Royal Bank of Scotland and Man Group and Japan's Nomura Holdings. Founded in 1819, the University of Virginia School of Law is the second-oldest continuously operating law school in the nation. The Madoff family took a severe financial hit: a judge issued a $171bn forfeiture order in June 2009, stripping Madoff of all his personal property, including real estate, investments, and $80m in assets his wife, Ruth, had claimed were hers. I do not agree, Judge Chin wrote about the victims. "He turned to me and he said, crying, 'I'm at the end of my rope. Most judges will tell you that sentencing is the most difficult thing we do, he said. There were several more Asian-American faces in Madison Square Gardens that night too. Although Chin said that by and large he has not experienced discrimination as a judge, there have been some incidents that happened because of his race. If the mind can scarcely comprehend a figure so large, the federal sentencing guidelines don't even try. At various times, he referred to his monumental fraud as a "problem," "an error of judgment" and "a tragic mistake. PESCA: Judge Chin had the last word, saying he believed investor losses to be closer to $60 billion. "We're in a complicated situation. dismissed a lawsuit by a Florida man who blamed the Atkins. In 2008, Madoff pleaded guilty to orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme, in which instead of investing cash, he paid off older investors with funds from new investors.
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