Bernard Madoff’s brother gets 10-year sentence

Louis Lanzano / AP

Peter Madoff arrirves at Manhattan federal court for his sentencing, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012, in New York. Madoff, the former senior compliance officer at the Madoff private investment business and brother of Ponzi king Bernard Madoff, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and falsifying books and records of an investment adviser in June.

By Colleen Long and Larry Neumeister, Associated Press

Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012 | 3:06 p.m.

NEW YORK — The brother of imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff has been sentenced in New York to 10 years in prison for crimes committed in the shadow of his notorious sibling.

Peter Madoff was sentenced Thursday after victims described their anguish at losing their life savings in the Ponzi scheme. The sentence was announced in a crowded Manhattan courtroom by Judge Laura Taylor Swain six months after Madoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy and falsifying books and records. He agreed then to serve 10 years in prison. It was four years ago this month that his brother revealed his multi-decade fraud that cheated thousands of investors out of their $20 billion investment. Bernard Madoff is serving a 150-year prison term.

Peter Madoff says he did not know of the fraud but committed other crimes.