After announcing the intent to plead guilty yesterday, Bernard Madoff, 70, of the $40-80 billion U.S. Ponzi scheme headed under his market maker company, Bernard Madoff Investment Securities, completed the plead to 11 counts of crimes including money laundering, securities fraud and perjury.

The question of why Madoff would plead guilty to a crime of this caliber, guaranteeing that he spends the rest of his life in jail has been raised by analysts and commentators worldwide. Many of the victims of the fraud are unsatisfied with the lack of a trial, suggesting it hindered the ability for the courts and public to see the international scope of the old and frail who have been financially destroyed by this crime.

“If we go to trial we have more of a chance to comprehend the global scope of this horrendous crime; at trial, we can bear witness to the pain Mr. Madoff has inflicted on the old, the infirm and the disabled,” said one investor in court.

Bernard Madoff is currently in custody on no bail, the judge in the case, Hong Kong-born Denny Chin, saying “He has incentive to flee, he has means to flee, and he is a risk of flight.” His attorney, Ira Sorkin, says he’s preparing the appeal to the no-bail call.

Investigations in to the fraud are no where near complete at this point. Questions remain about Ruth Madoff’s funds, how the remaining funds will be distributed to those at a loss from this scandal, and the actual recovery of all the remaining funds.

In a court statement, Madoff explained that once he was in to the scheme, which may have started as early as the 1980s, the continuing requests of investors to withdraw their money resulted in a situation where more investors had to be found and it was impossible to remove himself from the mess, saying that he knew “that [his] arrest and this day would inevitably come.”

Reuters reports that neither Ruth Madoff, his brother Peter Madoff or his sons, Mark and Andrew were in court to see the plead. Madoff was reportedly dressed in a gray suit, with none of the jewelery and extravagance that was once signature of his style.

Madoff says he told potential investors he would “invest their money in shares of common stock, options and other securities of large well-known corporations. Instead, those funds were deposited in a bank account at Chase Manhattan.”

“A lot of resources are being expended both to find assets and to find anyone else who may be responsible for this fraud,” said U.S. assistant prosecuting attorney, Marc Litt.

Victims are expected to be heard in court prior to sentencing, the date of which is currently unclear.

“He doesn’t have 150 years to live, but I hope his time in jail will be hell on Earth,” said Joan Sinkin, 75, a victim with losses of over $1 million in life retirement savings. “He deserves no mercy whatsoever, I just hope he doesn’t get sent to a plush country club kind of penitentiary,” said Burt Ross to the New York Daily, former mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, who lost $5 million in retirement savings.

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