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To: MulhollandDrive who wrote (175631)	1/7/2009 12:14:44 PM
From: Jim McMannis	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 306849

FOr his own protection of course...g Bernard Madoff Prosecutors Ask U.S. Judge to Jail Him Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Bernard Madoff mailed additional jewelry, including Cartier and Tiffany watches, a ring, a diamond bracelet and diamond necklace, prosecutors said in a letter expanding on their request to jail the investment adviser for violating the terms of his bail. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Litt in Manhattan sent a letter to U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis yesterday asking that Madoff be imprisoned for transferring more than $1 million in possessions. The letter, made public today, broadens the grounds for the request Litt made in Manhattan federal court Jan. 5. The letter contains new details about the items Madoff mailed to friends and relatives in separate packages. One of them contained 13 watches, a diamond necklace, an emerald ring, and two sets of cufflinks, the collective value of which may exceed $1 million, Litt said. “Two other packages -- containing a diamond bracelet, a gold watch, a diamond Cartier watch, a diamond Tiffany watch, four diamond brooches, a jade necklace, and other assorted jewelry, also were sent to relatives,” Litt wrote. He said prosecutors have recovered those items. Two other packages were mailed by Madoff or his wife to Madoff’s brother Peter and an unidentified couple in Florida, the prosecutor said. Defense attorney Ira Sorkin is required to submit his response to the letter today. The lawyer has said that Madoff’s transfer of jewelry was an innocent mistake and that Madoff and his wife are in the process of retrieving the items from his sons, other relatives, and acquaintances. “Any comment we have we will make in court filings,” Sorkin said in an interview today. Federal Charges Prosecutors said Madoff, who faces federal charges that he ran a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, violated an order freezing his assets issued last month by a judge in a related lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Madoff, 70, was arrested on Dec. 11 at his Manhattan apartment and charged with one count of securities fraud. He is free on $10 million bond and restricted to his Upper East Side home. Madoff faces as much as 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine if convicted. His sons, Mark and Andrew Madoff, alerted prosecutors last week that they had received jewelry in the mail from their father, Sorkin said. They reported Madoff’s Ponzi alleged scheme to the government on Dec. 10, their lawyer, Martin Flumenbaum, has said. In his letter, Litt said that Madoff’s actions show his “willingness to disobey an explicit court order” and that the transfer of assets suggests he “may dissipate” assets he owns in three residences in the U.S. and one in France. Need for Detention “The need for detention in this case is clear,” Litt wrote. “The continued release of the defendant presents a danger to the community of additional economic harm and further obstruction of justice.” The prosecutor cited other criminal cases where he said judges have jailed criminal defendants because of the risk of “economic harm.” Litt also said that Madoff poses “a serious risk of flight” because he faces a long prison term and his ties to New York have been “largely severed by the loss of his New York business and his loss of status in the New York Community.” He raised a similar argument in court on Jan. 5. The case is U.S. v. Madoff, 08-mag-2735, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). To contact the reporter on this story: David Glovin in New York federal court at dglovin@bloomberg.net.