go to jailMadoff won’t get to pass “go” and won’t get to collect even $200. Fraudster financier and Ponzi schemer, Bernard Madoff, pleaded guilty today to 11 counts of fraud, money laundering, perjury and theft for swindling investors (charities and even some of his own long-time friends) out of over $65 billion in the largest Ponzi scheme in Wall Street history. Judge Denny Chin revoked Madoff’s bail and ordered the 70 year old to jail where he awaits sentencing, which is scheduled for June 16.

Madoff may be looking at the rest of his life behind bars. The judge needs to set an example of Madoff and put him in prison for a long, long time. Madoff wasn’t just at the wrong place at the wrong time or clueless about what a CFO might be doing, he single-handedly mastermind a scheme to rob charities, his friends, and people who invested with him. The public and the markets need justice after the economic collapse, and unfortunately for Mr. Madoff, he has become the face of Wall Street corruption and greed.

The dust might be starting to settle. U.S. markets are up today. Coincidence? Maybe. There has been some promising economic news this week amid all the gloom and doom. However, my hunch is that Madoff’s very public guilty plea and mea culpa is just what investors need to get the woes and wrong-doing behind them.