Madoff Sent to Jail in Handcuffs

NEW YORK - Bernard Madoff, the man behind the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history pleaded guilty Thursday to 11 felony counts and was led off to jail in handcuffs. He will be sentenced June 16. Madoff pleaded guilty to charges that he carried out an epic fraud that robbed investors around the world of billions of dollars.

(Fox 5's Charles Leaf has been covering the Madoff case and was in the courtroom. Click on the video, left).

Madoff pleaded guilty to charges that he carried out an epic fraud that robbed investors around the world of billions of dollars, turning a revered money man into an overnight global disgrace whose name became synonymous with the economic meltdown.

The 11 counts he pleaded to included fraud, perjury, and theft from an employee benefit plan and two counts of international money laundering.

Prosecutors say the disgraced financier, who has spent three months under house arrest in his $7 million Manhattan penthouse, could face a maximum sentence of 150 years in prison at sentencing.

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As the proceedings began, Madoff asked if he could have some water.

Judge Denny Chin swore Madoff in and asked him for his plea. After Madoff said he was pleading guilty, Chin explained that he would ask a series of questions before deciding whether to accept the plea.

"Mr. Madoff, you can be seated; pour yourself some water," Chin told him.

The plea came three months after the FBI claimed Madoff admitted to his sons that his once-revered investment fund was all a big lie -- a Ponzi scheme that was in the billions of dollars. Since his arrest in December, the scandal has turned the 70-year-old former Nasdaq chairman into a pariah who has worn a bulletproof vest to court.

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The scheme evaporated life fortunes, wiped out charities and apparently pushed at least two investors to commit suicide. Victims big and small were swindled by Madoff, from elderly Florida retirees to actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.

  >COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE MADOFF SCANDAL

>LIST OF VICTIMS

List of the charges brought by federal prosecutors against Bernard Madoff:

Count One: Securities Fraud

Maximum penalty: 20 years in prison, fine of the greatest of $5 million or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, and restitution.

Count Two: Investment Adviser Fraud

Maximum penalty: 5 years in prison, fine of the greatest of $10,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, and restitution.

Count Three: Mail Fraud

Maximum penalty: 20 years in prison, fine of the greatest of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, and restitution.

Count Four: Wire Fraud

Maximum penalty: 20 years in prison, fine of the greatest of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, and restitution.

Count Five: International Money Laundering To Promote Specified Unlawful Activity

Maximum penalty: 20 years in prison, fine of the greatest of $500,000 or twice the value of the monetary instruments or funds involved, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, and restitution.

Count Six: International Money Laundering To Conceal And Disguise The Proceeds Of Specified Unlawful Activity

Maximum penalty: 20 years in prison, fine of the greatest of $500,000 or twice the value of the monetary instruments or funds involved or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, and restitution.

Count Seven: Money Laundering

Maximum penalty: 10 years in prison, fine of the greatest of $250,000 or twice the gross grain or loss from the offense, and restitution.

Count Eight: False Statements

Maximum penalty: 5 years in prison, fine of the greatest of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, and restitution.

Count Nine: Perjury

Maximum penalty: 5 years in prison, fine of the greatest of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, and restitution.

Count 10: Making A False Filing With The Securities and Exchange Commission

Maximum Penalty: 20 years in prison, fine of the greatest of $5 million or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, and restitution.

Count 11: Theft From An Employee Benefit Plan

Maximum Penalty: 5 years in prison, fine of the greatest of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, and restitution.

LEGAL ANALYSIS FROM PETER JOHNSON OF FOX NEWS :