One famous person that is currently serving a 150-year prison sentence has apparently had representatives making calls to see if his sentence might be able to be reduced by President Trump before he leaves office Wednesday at noon.
Notorious Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff’s lawyer said it doesn’t appear Trump will grant his client clemency, but he’d love to get some decades trimmed off the back end of Madoff’s sentence, which potentially could allow him to taste freedom before he dies.
The attorney connected to Madoff is named James Craven, and he sent letters to Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary along with Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn in hopes of them convincing Trump to cut the length of Madoff’s sentence. Madoff has claimed that he is very poor health, and dying of kidney disease, and it does not appear that Madoff or his representatives asked for a pardon.
Craven reached out to Mnuchin multiple times but has not heard back. The reason he contacted Himes, is he is the representative in the district of Connecticut that Madoff’s wife Ruth Madoff lives. A rep for Himes admitted his office received the request. “As a rule, Congressman Himes’s office does not involve itself in judicial proceedings. In this case, we received an inquiry from a constituent’s attorney asking us to look into a clemency issue,” Patrick Malone, a spokesman for Himes’ office, told CNBC. “After reviewing the request, a determination was made not to intervene on the constituent’s behalf.”
Near the beginning of 2020 Madoff requested that a federal judge grant him an early release because of his terminal kidney disease that Madoff said was going to kill him within 18 months. The judge rejected the request.
There’s a very interesting subplot to this story. Mnuchin’s mother was reportedly a long-time investor with Madoff. In 2016, Mnuchhin inherited the investment portfolio from his mother when she died, and he and his brother liquidated the assets, which led to a profit of $3.2 million for the brothers.
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