1 of 2. Peter Madoff, brother of Bernard Madoff, arrives at the Federal Court in New York, December 20, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Andrew Burton
By Nate Raymond and Nick Brown
NEW YORK | Thu Dec 20, 2012 7:37pm EST
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The younger brother of Bernard Madoff will serve 10 years in prison for his role in his brother's Ponzi scheme that stole billions of dollars from investors, a U.S. judge said on Thursday.
Peter Madoff, 67, pleaded guilty in June to criminal charges including conspiracy to commit securities fraud for falsifying the books and records of the investment advisory company founded by his brother.
U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain adopted prosecutors' recommendations and sentenced Madoff to 10 years in prison. She also ordered him to forfeit what she called a "draconian" $143.1 billion, which she said would seal his "financial ruination."
"To take his story at face value, he knew that the business operation was a little bit crooked, and he was content to go along with that," Swain said. "We all know that a crooked operation is rarely if ever just a â