Madoff Arrives In Court, Expected To Plead Guilty

Investment fund manager Bernie Madoff, who confessed in December to running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, arrived in federal court in New York City this morning and is expected to plead guilty to bilking investors.

The 70-year-old Madoff will not be sentenced today -- the sentence could run as high as 150 years -- but in order to accept his plea, the judge must hear Madoff describe his crimes in his own words.

It would mark the first time Madoff has spoken publicly about his scheme, and it should be fascinating.

Former investors of Madoff -- his alleged victims -- began arriving in court two hours before Madoff arrived.

Authorities estimate that Madoff's figure of $50 billion may have been a lie and that the actual amount fleeced from investors may be between $10 billion and $17 billion. So far, only about $1 billion had been recovered.

-- Frank Ahrens
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