NEW YORK: Bernard Madoff's lawyer has told a judge scheduled to sentence the disgraced financier next week that 12 years in prison would be sufficient punishment for the man who swindled tens of billions of investors' dollars in one of history's biggest frauds.

But a woman who says her family was ruined financially by Madoff's thievery said a sentence that short might only work "if he was hung by his toes" the whole time.

The 71-year-old Madoff faces up to 150 years in prison after pleading guilty on March 12 to 11 felony counts including securities fraud and perjury. He admitted operating a massive pyramid scheme for decades. Federal sentencing guidelines call for Madoff to receive a life sentence.