Bernard Madoff, the disgraced financier and architect of the world’s largest Ponzi scheme, will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Madoff was sentenced on Monday to 150 years in prison, the maximum time allowed. His attorney, Ira Sorkin, had sought a 12-year sentence for his client.

Madoff, 71, learned his fate inside in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan where he listened to victims of his scheme speak of the hardships they are now enduring. Madoff expressed remorse, saying “I live in a tormented state now, knowing all of the pain and suffering that I’ve created. I’ve left a legacy of shame, as some of my victims have pointed out, to my family and my grandchildren.” According to reports, he turned and spoke directly to his victims and apologized, but said, “I know that doesn’t help you.”

Judge Denny Chin brushed aside Madoff’s claims of remorse. “Objectively speaking, the fraud here was staggering,” he said. “It spanned more than 20 years.”

Madoff, who has been jailed since March 12, operated a decades-long $65-billion Ponzi scheme that robbed thousands of investors out of their savings. He ran the operation out of the investment advisory arm of his business, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, claiming to use a strategy known as “split-strike conversion” to deliver stellar returns. On Friday, he agreed to forfeit more than $170 billion in assets that leaves him without a cent to his name.