Madoff to Plead Guilty to Fraud

Bernard L. Madoff, the New York financier accused of masterminding the biggest Ponzi scheme ever, plans to plead guilty this week to 11 felony charges that will likely put him behind bars for the rest of his life, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Madoff, 70, will admit to running a fraud dating back to the 1980s. He solicited billions of dollars from pension funds, charities and other investors, at times promising annual returns of as much as 46 percent, according to court documents filed Tuesday afternoon in Federal District Court in Manhattan.