Bernie Madoff will take his 150 years, and like it

Bernard Madoff has decided that he will not appeal the 150-year prison sentence he received for orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme, according to his lawyer Ira Lee Sorkin. The decision was reached Monday when Sorkin and Madoff met, and although the Ponzi operator may have a "strong legal argument" because the maximum 150-year penalty may have been symbolic, Madoff will take his medicine.

As Sorkin said, even if the court said that 150 years was excessive and lowered the terms to 40 years, "what's the point? He undertands his future. He is not going to walk out of prison at age 106." Sorkin believes that the Second Circuit Court of Appeals would find a stiff penalty "well within reason for Madoff," suggesting that 30 to 40 years would not "be ridiculous." (Sorkin came to this number by comparing Madoff's crimes with those of WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers and Enron CEO Jeff Skilling.) Taking 15 percent of the jail time off for good behavior, Madoff would leave jail at 98 -- and that is with the shortened sentence.