As expected, Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty to all 11 criminal counts during his hearing and went to jail immediately after it was over.
But to get a sense of how vast and deliberate his scheme was, read his statement to the court. Absolutely mind-boggling stuff.
Madoff expected to plead guilty for running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme in court today. He could spend the rest of his life in prison.
This is a bit late, but I just found the Washington Post Investigative Unit’s list of the Top Ten Scandals of 2008, and it’s a doozy.
They are all good and memorable scandals which will be talked about for years, although I would beg to differ. Take Hillary Clinton’s Bosnia sniper fire story off the list and replace it with Sarah Palin’s $180,000 wardrobe funded by the Republican National Committee. One was a case of Walter Mitty-style fabulism which provided for a moment of humor once the reality of the story was verified and little else. The other raised profound questions about judgment and management of campaign funds, and by extension the potential decisions John McCain and Sarah Palin would have made in the White House if they had been elected.
With a new administration, an expanded Democratic majority in Congress, and a full blown financial crisis, expect 2009 to be another bombshell and scandal-rich year for the press to investigate.
Icepicks and Nukes 