Fraudster Bernard Madoff has received a 150-year prison term for his gigantic Ponzi scheme, by far the largest-ever sentence for a white-collar crime.

"Symbolism is important," Southern District of New York Judge Denny Chin said as he hit Madoff with the maximum possible term, imposed for offences the judge called "staggering" in size and scope.

"Here, the message must be sent that Madoff's crimes were extraordinarily evil," the judge said. "This is not a bloodless financial crime that occurred only on paper, but one that took a staggering human toll."

Chin said he considered other large, white-collar crimes in the Southern District, alluding to the 25-year sentence given Bernard Ebbers in the WorldCom case and other prison terms handed down over the last few years.

"Frankly, none of these other crimes is comparable to this case in terms of the scope, duration and enormity of the fraud," he said.

The sentence was ordered after the judge heard 50 minutes of testimony from nine victims of a fraud in excess of $13bn (£7.8bn) in investor losses to date.

"He truly has earned the reputation as being the most despised person living in America today," said Burt Ross, who lost $5m (£3m) through the fraud run out of Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities on Lexington Avenue in New York City, where for more than a decade Madoff did not even bother to invest the money his clients sent him.

Madoff pleaded guilty to securities fraud and 10 other felonies on 12 March. He was not technically eligible for a life sentence on Monday, but Chin said he had the discretion to "stack" the sentences for each crime committed and have the terms run consecutively.

Chin said that the 150-year sentence was important for "retribution," as Madoff must be "punished according to his moral culpability."

The sentence was also important for purposes of deterrence and for satisfaction for the victims, the judge said.

The judge disagreed with defence lawyer Ira Lee Sorkin of Dickstein Shapiro, who in a pre-sentencing submission said that some of the victim's letters, coupled with the "hysteria" over Madoff's crimes, conveyed the sense that people were seeking a form of "mob vengeance."

Sorkin tried and failed to convince the judge that a sentence of 12 years, which would approximate Madoff's life expectancy, or one of 15 to 20 years, would be "sufficient but not greater than necessary" to meet the purposes of sentencing.

This article first appeared in the New York Law Journal, Legal Week's US sister title.