Bernard Madoff was sentenced on Monday to a 150-year jail term for the massive Ponzi scheme that he orchestrated.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin handed down the sentence in New York. It represents the maximum sentence possible for the financial fraud.

In December, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged 71-year-old Madoff and Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC with committing securities fraud through a Ponzi scheme perpetrated on advisory and brokerage customers of the firm.

Madoff pleaded guilty to the securities fraud and other charges in March, and has been in jail ever since.

The fraud, which led to losses estimated at more than US$50 billion, was of “epic proportions,” according to Andrew Calamari, associate director of enforcement in the SEC’s New York Regional Office.

Earlier in June, the SEC also charged a New York-based broker-dealer and four individuals with securities fraud in connection with Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, alleging that they collectively raised billions of dollars from investors in the scheme. In May, the SEC also charged the auditors of Madoff’s broker-dealer firm with committing securities fraud by representing that they had conducted legitimate audits, when in fact they had not.

The sentencing comes a few days after the SEC charged two other fund managers for conducting similar Ponzi schemes.

In an announcement on Wednesday, the SEC alleged that Massachusetts-based money manager Michael C. Regan and his firm, Regan & Company, fraudulently obtained at least $15.9 million from dozens of investors, stealing much of the money for personal use.

In a separate charge on the same day, the SEC alleged that California-based Moises Pacheco, Advanced Money Management, Inc., and Business Development & Consulting Co. operated a Ponzi-like scheme that raised $14.7 million from more than 200 investors.

IE