Madoff confesses to $50bn fraud scam

Bernard Madoff has pleaded guilty to all 11 charges surrounding a $50bn fraud involving an elaborate Ponzi scheme.

While Madoff "cannot adequately express" how sorry he is, prosecutors are preparing to get the disgraced US financier a 150-year jail sentence, reports the BBC.

Madoff ran a Ponzi or pyramid scheme where early investors were paid off with new clients' money. At least 20 of Madoff's investors have asked to speak at the hearing where victims are expected to address the court.

The hearing is also expected to decide whether Madoff should be allowed to remain on bail as he is not likely to be sentenced for several months. Since his arrest in December, the former Wall Street figure has been holed-up in his luxury apartment in Manhattan.

Madoff is the only person accused in the fraud surrounding his firm, Bernard L Madoff Investment Securties. His charges include four counts of fraud, which could have been going on since the 1980s.

The former chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange has also pleased guilty to three counts of money laundering as well as perjury, theft from an employee benefit plan and making a false claim to the US financial watchdog.