Madoff sent to jail after pleading guilty to fraud

Disgraced Wall Street financier Bernard L Madoff was sent to jail after pleading guilty to swindling his clients of billions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme which he ran for years.

After 70-year-old Madoff pleaded guilty to all 11 felony charges yesterday, his victims applauded as he was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs to jail to await sentencing on June 16.

The charges included securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and perjury and together they carry a sentence of 150 years in prison.

Prosecutors say he swindled his clients of $65 billion and his guilty plea would not stop the investigations as investigators try to determine whether his sons or other family members or employees were involved in running the Ponzi scheme in which interest to older clients was paid by the money received from new clients.

Madoff offered his first public apology and said he was "deeply sorry and ashamed" at what he did.

"I knew what I was doing, it was wrong and I'm deeply sorry," he said amidst derisive laughter from his victims inside the court room.