Breaking News: Madoff Sentenced to the Maximum

A federal judge, calling his crimes “extraordinarily evil,” sentenced Bernard L. Madoff to 150 years in prison today for operating a huge Ponzi scheme that violated thousands of people’s trust and caused astronomical loss. I’m reminded of Nancy Goldstein’s great piece over at Salon (which Ann linked to a while back in her WFR) about how the closing of two of Madoff’s clients, the Picower Foundation and the JEHT Foundation, are affecting funding for advocacy and activism:

The media’s obsession with wealthy individuals who have been ruined by Madoff and feel betrayed is understandable. But when that story wears thin, let’s hope the cameras will document the effect of the $42 million shortfall that progressive nonprofits will face in 2009 without funding from JEHT and Picower. We’ve only just begun to understand the implications of that loss for women’s health and human rights.