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Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff says he's dying from kidney cancer, seeks early prison release: 'There's no cure'

The 81-year-old is currently serving a sentence of 150 years in a North Carolina prison and his attorney has said that he will live for less than 18 months from now
UPDATED FEB 6, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Just a couple of days earlier controversial conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh revealed that he is at an advanced stage of lung cancer and there were enough people who ridiculed him over that. Now, another character — known for his notoriety — has made a similar claim of ailment.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff has revealed that he is dying from cancer in his kidney. The 81-year-old, who is currently serving a 150-year sentence in North Carolina, has also sought an early release from the prison on compassionate grounds.  

On Wednesday, February 5, the octogenarian's attorney Brandon Sample wrote in a fresh legal filing that Madoff has less than a year-and-a-half to breathe because of the terminal disease.  “Madoff does not dispute the severity of his crimes nor does he seek to minimize the suffering of his victims. Madoff has expressed remorse for his crimes,” Sample wrote in his filing in US District Court in Manhattan.

“Now, after over 10 years of incarceration and with less than 18 months to live, Madoff humbly asks this Court for a modicum of compassion,” he added.

Madoff's attorney questions prison term in terms of terminal illness

Sample said the prison term which was just and proportionate at the time of sentencing may become disproportionately severe based on changed circumstances, such as terminal illness. 

Madoff was handed the sentence in 2009 after pleading guilty to 11 federal felonies in which he swindled investors out of an estimated $65 billion in what is considered the largest Ponzi scheme history has witnessed. 

Madoff told the Washington Post: “There's no cure for my type of disease. So you know, I've served. I've served 11 years already, and, quite frankly, I've suffered through it.” The daily said a few inmates have been granted such a request. It also said that the Bureau of Prisons confirmed that Madoff has less than two years to live. 

The veteran is kept at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in Burner, North Carolina, where he was transferred because of medical reasons. 

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