Bernie Madoff asks President Trump to reduce his 150-year prison term

Notorious Wall Street fraudster Bernie Madoff has filed a petition with the Department of Justice, requesting that President Donald Trump reduce his 150-year prison sentence.

What are the details?

CNBC reported that Madoff, 81, is not asking for a pardon from the president, but rather to be released through a commutation or reduction of his sentence. The date of the filing was not disclosed by the DOJ, but its website confirmed that the request was still pending as of Wednesday afternoon.

According to Business Insider, Madoff has served a decade of his sentence, after pleading guilty in 2009 to 11 crimes, including fraud, money laundering, perjury and theft. The disgraced former NASDAQ chairman and investment adviser admitted to orchestrating and running the largest Ponzi scheme in history over the span of 20 years.

Madoff cheated investors out of as much as $65 billion (keeping around $20 billion for himself), in a scam that defrauded roughly 4,800 clients, Fox Business reported. If his request for commuted or reduced sentence is not granted, he is set to remain behind bars until November 2139.

The Madoff scandal destroyed more than the nest eggs of his clients. At least four people connected to Madoff — including his eldest son — committed suicide in the aftermath of the fallout. A court-appointed trustee has only been able to recover a fraction of the losses claimed by Madoff's customers.

Anything else?

Since President Trump has been in office, he has granted 10 pardons out of roughly 1,000 petitions, and four commutations out of more than 5,600 commutation requests. It is unknown whether the president is considering the petition from Madoff.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Madoff is incarcerated in a federal medical center in Butner, North Carolina.