It's goodbye, Bernie

In one sense the 150-year sentence given Bernie Madoff by federal district judge Denny Chin in New York Monday is an absurdity. The 71-year-old fraud is not likely to serve more than a small fraction of his prison term.

But at a symbolic level the sentence is an appropriate expression of the outrage society feels at Madoff's heartless theft of billions from trusting clients. "Here the message must be sent that Mr. Madoff's crimes were extraordinarily evil and that this kind of manipulation of the system is not just a bloodless crime that takes place on paper, but one instead that brings a staggering toll," the sentencing judge declared.

In a failed bid for leniency, Mr. Madoff mumbled that his behavior was a "problem," an "error of judgment" and a "tragic mistake," and that his wife "cries herself to sleep every night, knowing all the pain and suffering I have caused." As an apology for his crimes, it was utterly inadequate.

Judge Chin figuratively threw the book at the defendant. The 150-year sentence was the maximum the law allows. But the long sentence will do nothing to restore the funds that Mr. Madoff made off with. His investors are unlikely to recover very much of the $65 billion they lost.

As Stephanie Ribakoff told the Palm Beach Daily News, from the point of view of Mr. Madoff's investors, "The verdict was just. But it wasn't justice."