Politics | January 12, 2009 | 7 comments

The Bigger the RAT, the more CHEESE to sustain them.

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NEW YORK – A judge allowed disgraced investor Bernard Madoff to remain free on bail Monday, rejecting an attempt by prosecutors to send him to jail for mailing more than $1 million in jewelry to family and friends over the holidays.

The decision means Madoff will avoid having to leave the comfort of his $7 million penthouse and await trial in a cramped jail cell with nothing but bunkbeds, a sink and toilet. Madoff will remain under house arrest and under the constant watch of security guards.

The ruling further outraged investors who have been clamoring for Madoff to be sent to jail for allegedly carrying out the largest financial fraud in history. They find it shocking that Madoff is free on bail, despite distributing assets that could be used to help repay investors who lost billions.

Stephen A. Weiss, a lawyer for several dozen Madoff investors, said there "are people on the street who are very unhappy" with the ruling.

"There is a thirst for blood that transcends just those who have been victimized. There is a feeling ... that folks like Bernard Madoff get a different brand of justice than the guy in the street," Weiss said.

The judge acknowledged the huge public interest in the case, but said that sound legal considerations must take priority. He said that prosecutors failed to make a good enough argument that keeping Madoff free on bail represents an economic harm to the community.

"The issue at this stage of the criminal proceedings is not whether Madoff has been charged in perhaps the largest Ponzi scheme ever, not whether Madoff's alleged actions should result in his widespread disapprobation by the public, nor even what is appropriate punishment after conviction," Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis wrote.

"The government fails to provide sufficient evidence that .................................
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7 comments // The Bigger the RAT, the more CHEESE to sustain them.

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