Even after pleading guilty to masterminding a $65 billion Ponzi scheme that decimated the lives of thousands across the country, Bernard Madoff is trying to get a break.
While Madoff’s victims are likely shrieking “can’t let it happen,” it’s possible that the hedge fund manager’s 150-year maximum prison sentence could get cut, thanks to one of the best prison consultants in the industry.
Madoff hired “mitigation specialist” Herbert Hoelter to try to shave off some prison time, according to The New York Post. Hoelter’s got quite a track record of helping out high-profile jailbirds, including Michael Vick and Martha Stewart.
A court gave Hoelter the OK to visit Madoff in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, according to the Post. The fraudster is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29.
Hoelter is recognized as one of the leading experts in sentencing and the federal prison system, especially when it comes to finding ways to avoid jail time, according to the Web site of his firm, the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives. The Baltimore-based firm works “to break the destructive cycle often associated with the human service and correctional systems,” according to its Web site.
“We provide individual care, concern, and treatment for emotionally disturbed youth, developmentally disabled adults and adolescents, and those involved in the criminal justice system,” the site reads.
The young children portrayed on the site’s homepage hardly draw an image to the likes of clientele that Hoelter, one of the firm’s founders, is engaging in Madoff. And the section on the site – “Ways to Give” – bears a bitter taste of irony considering who it could be helping.
Bernie isn’t the only Madoff who’s reached out to prison consultants for help navigating the slammer. His niece, Shana, was so afraid of the big house that she contacted Wall Street Prison Consultants for advice on how to “play the game.”
(Source: NBC New York)
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One Response
I don’t know why he’d want out of prison…there are enough people out there who are angry and have lots of money to arrange an “alternative sentence” for him. He’s probably safest in prison.