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Sunday, November 8, 
12:40 am

Ponzi schemers face the music

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dreier,marc125x100.jpgHave the Ponzi schemers really rode off into the sunset? Or shall we say, life behind bars?

After pleading guilty to several counts of fraud arising out of a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars, defamed attorney Marc S. Dreier -- founder and managing partner of bankrupt Dreier LLP -- has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The sentencing reportedly came this past Monday from Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, though documents confirming the ruling had yet to filed as of Wednesday. A request lodged by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan R. Streeter seeking 145 years was rejected by Rakoff at the hearing, where Dreier offered his apologies to the courtroom.

"At this point, all I can do is express my shame and remorse. ... I'm sorry to all the people I stole from," said Dreier, who pleaded guilty to several counts of securities and wire fraud on May 11 and is currently in Chapter 7 bankruptcy. "I'm sorry to the clients I betrayed. I'm sorry to the lawyers at my law firm for dishonoring their profession."

The ruling comes just a day after Bernard Madoff, 71, arrived at a federal prison in North Carolina to begin serving his 150-year sentence for his own high crimes. Madoff was sentenced on June 29 by U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin of the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.
 
The trial of R. Allen Stanford, meanwhile, is still to come. The founder of Stanford Financial Group has been indicted for orchestrating a $7 billion scheme for defrauding investors, and just recently, a federal judge revoked bail because he agreed with prosecutors that Stanford was a flight risk.

Will this be the end of it? Unfortunately, probably not. The unraveling of the markets was the key factor in unmasking these Ponzi schemers, and it's likely that others have yet to be exposed. But it's this trio that may be remembered as a defining mark of the troubled era we are currently in. - Carolyn Okomo

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