Madoff victims from Bucks pleased by stiff sentence

NEW YORK - Michael T. DeVita exited the federal courthouse in the financial district yesterday and flashed a victory signal to a mob of onlookers, TV news crews, and security personnel, signaling his great pleasure at the 150-year prison sentence issued to The Great Swindler.

"We finally won a round, which was making sure that Bernie Madoff never walks again as a free man," said DeVita, a 59-year-old Chalfont, Bucks County, resident who lost more than $1 million in funds that were to have financed his retirement.

That retirement, planned for February 2010, is now postponed.

He was accompanied by his widowed mother, Emma, 81, also of Bucks County, who lost her nest egg to Madoff. Her first thought on hearing the 150-year sentence was "Hallelujah."

Bernard Madoff admitted his guilt in March to running a con game for the ages, a $65-billion Ponzi scheme that devastated thousands of his unwitting investors. Among them were Hollywood movie star Kevin Bacon and aged celebrity Zsa Zsa Gabor, wealthy retired businessmen, Jewish philanthropies, and average investors - people such as DeVita, a marketing-research consultant, and his mother, a retired part-time employee of Sears department stores.

Maureen Ebel, a widow and a retired nurse in Chester County, also was there.

"If he never sees the light of day," she said, "that is justice for Bernie Madoff."

Ebel was one of nine Madoff victims allowed to address the court before the sentencing. She lost $4.5 million.

"It absolutely felt wonderful and important and meaningful to have a voice for everyone who can't have a voice, and for me and for my family," said Ebel, 61, of West Goshen Township.

She has returned to work as an office manager.

Madoff's lawyer had sought a term of 12 years. Judge Denny Chin's sentence was the harshest he was allowed to impose. It sent the Securities and Exchange Commission and other branches of government a strong message that Madoff's breathtaking fraud should be fully investigated and that more needed to be done to protect investors, said Ronnie Sue Ambrosino, a defrauded Madoff investor from Arizona.

Some investors say they have been painted as undeserving of sympathy because they were rich or because they made risky investments. It's an assertion they reject.

Madoff had a good reputation on Wall Street, they say, and his investment gains consistently ranged between 9 and 11 percent a year - steady if not spectacular.

The DeVitas and others are asking federal and state governments to return taxes they paid on the fictitious investment gains on Madoff investments. DeVita said he had paid $200,000 to $400,000 in federal taxes on his investments. In other words, he paid capital-gains taxes to the federal government on profits that never actually existed between 1992 and 2007.

They also would like the Securities Investor Protection Corp., which insured the brokerage accounts of Madoff victims, to move quickly to settle their claims.

Thousands of victims have filed claims seeking awards from whatever remains of the assets of Madoff and his family. A court-appointed trustee is overseeing the liquidation of Madoff's assets. How much will be available to refund investors is unknown, though it likely will be only a fraction of the billions of dollars lost.

A loosely organized victims' group held a rally in a park near the courthouse after the sentencing, with people carrying signs reading "Madoff Stole It, SEC Ignored It, IRS Kept It," and renaming the SEC as the "Sorry Excuse Commission."

Michael and Emma DeVita began their day desperate for justice. They caught a 6 a.m. New Jersey Transit train from Trenton to New York's Penn Station. Emma explained on the train how she had worked at Sears part-time for 23 years, beginning as a telephone operator taking calls around Christmas and saving most of her paychecks for a nest egg for herself and her husband, Michael. Then, Michael died of cancer in April 2008. In December, her savings vanished with Madoff's arrest.

"I told my son that if I saw Madoff in court, I would spit on him," said Emma, who otherwise displayed a gentle nature. "Every penny I made, we didn't touch it. It went right to Madoff. I would like to see him get a good long sentence."

Her son delved into Madoff's investment strategy and talked of the stacks of falsified brokerage records Madoff had sent him over the years – one plastic container for each year. He has spoken in Harrisburg about the Madoff scam, seeking refunds for state taxes paid on investment gains. He has written dozens of letters to federal legislators but received few responses.

"Everybody looks down on a Madoff victim," he said. "They all think we were rich."

The DeVitas got to Penn Station around 7 a.m. and caught the A Train downtown. Emma, waiting on the subway platform, observed: "You can take New York."

Near the courthouse, a French news crew caught up with Michael. They interviewed him. Emma waited about 10 minutes and then continued toward the courthouse.

"Thank God he's not a priest or we'd never get out of Mass," she muttered.

They were seated in the courthouse's overflow room, not in Chin's courtroom, with several hundred people. The stories of Madoff victims brought tears to Emma's eyes.

"I was really lucky," she said. Emma and Michael first thought Chin would give Madoff a light sentence. Then they heard 150 years.

"We all stood up and cheered," said Emma. "I think I was the first one."