Madoff: I'm a 'Human Piñata'

There are probably at least a few former investors who wish this was literal: Bernie Madoff says the judge in his Ponzi scheme trial made him the "human piñata of Wall Street" when he dished out a 150-year sentence. Madoff tells the New York Times Judge Denny Chin's ruling was excessive. "Maybe the judge felt, ‘Well, he’s 70 years old, so even if I give him 20 years, he’s going to be 90 years old,’" says Madoff. “But quite frankly, there’s a big difference with dying in prison, you know, and dying outside with your family."

Madoff—housed in a medium-security prison—took offense to recent interviews with the judge in which Chin called his crimes "extraordinarily evil." Madoff says, "I just think that was totally unrealistic and unfair," says Madoff, complaining that he's been made a scapegoat and suggesting that big banks and regulators escaped blame. "Remember," he says. "They caused the recession, not me." (More Bernard Madoff stories.)