Bernard Madoff standing with his hands clasped in front of him, showed no emotion when he was sentenced today to 150 years in prison for historic fraud.

Madoff admitted in March that he defrauded investors of billions of dollars over a decades-long Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors have so far identified $13 billion in losses.

Nine of his victims told Chin how their lives had been devastated. Then Madoff told Chin in a five-minute speech that he lives "in a tormented state now, knowing all the pain and suffering I've created" and that “Nothing I can say can correct what I’ve done.”

A crowd of hundreds waiting outside the courthouse as the sentencing was pronounced. At the end of his statement, Madoff turned to face a courtroom audience of 250. He pivoted to the right, bowed in the direction of dozens of his victims and told them he would “live with this pain for the rest of my life.”

District Judge Denny Chin told Madoff that “this was not merely a bloodless financial crime that occurred on paper, but one that takes a staggering toll”.

Scattered applause and whoops broke out in the crowded Manhattan courtroom after U.S. District Judge Denny Chin issued the maximum sentence to Madoff. Chin said he disagreed that victims of the fraud were seeking mob vengeance, but that he needed to send a symbolic message to potential imitators and to victims who demanded harsh punishment.

Chin said, that "here the message must be sent that Mr. Madoff's crimes were extraordinarily evil and that this kind of manipulation of the system is not just a bloodless crime that takes place on paper, but one instead that takes a staggering toll". Several victims brushed away tears, as Madoff, who wasn’t handcuffed, was let out a side door by two U.S. marshals.