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Madoff Sentenced to 150 Years; Billy Mays Autopsy Results; Firefighters Win High Court Appeal; U.S. Troops Leave Iraqi Cities; Madoff's Path to Prison; Coup in Honduras; Surviving A Bomb Blast

Aired June 29, 2009 - 11:58   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: We turn to Iran now. A partial recount is going on at this hour, comes as Iranian leaders continue to accuse the West of interfering. Reza Sayah is standing by there for us at our Iran desk. Reza, we're going to get to you in a second, however. We need to go back to the Madoff case in New York for a minute. We understand that a victim has stepped out and is speaking. We will get his name in a second, but let's go ahead and listen in.

BURT ROSS, FMR. MAYOR, FORT LEE, NEW JERSEY: ... circumstances was warranted and what I -- I said a number of things in my statement. By the way, the full text of my statement is being posted now on The Daily Beast, so you don't have to write parts of it. You can get the whole text of it.

But one of the things I talked about was, I know it's a little esoteric, but I went back 700 years to Dante, who was an Italian poet who wrote "The Divine Comedy." And in it, what he talked about was fraud is the worst sin of all because it violates God's gift to mankind, which is love.

And so, in the lowest depths of hell, Dante placed not those who committed violent acts, but those who violated trust. And in the lowest depths of hell were Judas for betraying Ceasar -- (INAUDIBLE) and Brutus for betraying Julius Ceasar. And each of them are in a mouth of Satan.

And so, what I said to the court is that when Bernard Madoff ends his life and that -- and I urged the judge to do what he did, which was to sentence him to the rest of his life that when he leaves prison, which means after his death, and he leaves prison virtually unmourned by anybody on this earth, that he will then go down to the depths of hell, where he'll join those other people who are in the mouths of Satan.

And the whole point of this is -- and I think the judge understood it -- this is far more than the loss of money. I mean, that's terrible enough, and many of the people who invested with Madoff have addressed the court in terms of what it's done to their lives. But there was also a tremendous violation of trust, and trust is what we build everything we value on.

We build our financial system on it. We build our relationships on it. We build love on it. And his response in court today, I thought, was pathetic. At one point he talked about how he had built a successful business and that many people got their money back. To this day, he misses the point, and he'll never get the point.

Somebody who did what he did over a period of decades is not going to turn around and truly feel remorse today. This was a premeditated crime that took place, a calculated crime that took place over 20 years.

And he said at one point that he dug a hole and he kept digging it deeper. The problem is that he had many opportunities to come clean. And what he did by digging the deeper hole was to spend more money on his yachts and his planes.

And I said that he violated trust in order -- and his friendships and all loyalty just so he could stay at the finest hotels and fly around on his private jets. And he truly deserves, he has truly earned the reputation for being the most despised American today.

QUESTION: What did you lose?

ROSS: I lost $5 million.

QUESTION: Where are you from, Mr. Ross?

ROSS: I'm from Englewood, New Jersey.

QUESTION: Your name again, sir?

ROSS: Burt. Ross is the last name.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ROSS: I'm sorry, I can't hear you.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You've been listening there to Burt Ross, saying he lost $5 million, one of the victims of Bernard Madoff, who has now been sentenced to 150 years in prison.

We'll get back to that story in just a moment.

We need to go to another breaking situation in Tampa, where pitchman Billy Mays, an autopsy has been done on his body. Let's listen in to this.

DR. VERNARD ADAMS, MEDICAL EXAMINER, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: Dr. Patosky (ph) will be performing histological studies. That is, examining tissue under the microscope. Dr. Julia Pearson (ph), our chief forensic toxicologist, will be performing standard tests for drugs, including narcotics.

Typically, these studies are completed within six to eight weeks. And when these studies are concluded, Dr. Patosky (ph) will issue a cause of death opinion at that time.

QUESTION: Doctor, could any of the drugs have exacerbated the condition that he had to hasten his death?

ADAMS: The question was, could these drugs have exacerbated his heart condition? No, they would operate through different physiologic mechanisms.

Heart disease would kill through the mechanism of the electrical mechanism that I discussed. The narcotic drugs would kill by depression of the respiratory centers in the brain stem.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ADAMS: There was no naked eye evidence of myocardial infarction, but Dr. Patosky (ph) will be examining the tissue under the microscope to see if there was a very recent infarction.

As to spasm, one cannot see spasm at autopsy. It's always a matter of opinion.

No more questions?

Yes.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ADAMS: Well, the question was about finding drugs in the system. We have not formed any toxicology tests yet, so I don't know whether there were any drugs in the specimens that were taken or not. And we won't know for several weeks.

QUESTION: At this point, does it appear that heart disease was the root of the problem?

ADAMS: Well, as I said, we are withholding a cause of death opinion until all the studies have been completed. But the heart disease that was found was certainly capable of causing the sudden death that he experienced.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

At this point, is there anything you can say about that? Or is that (OFF-MIKE)?

ADAMS: The question referred to the general overuse of prescription drugs throughout our society, particularly in Florida, I guess. And as I mentioned, in the case of Mr. Mays, no indication of any drug abuse, prescription or otherwise. And the medication counts were correct. He had not consumed too many of these prescriptions with reference to what was prescribed.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ADAMS: The heart weighed over 500 grams, which is an abnormal high weight. And all that is attributed to both the increase and the thickness of the left ventricle.

HOLMES: All right. You have been listening in here to officials down in Tampa. And what they have done is performed an autopsy on the body of Billy Mays.

Bill Mays, a lot of people will know the name. But if you don't, you certainly know the face and certainly know the voice. He is a TV pitchman. Really the king of TV pitchmen, if you will, a lot of people would call him, that certainly hocked (ph) a number of products, including OxiClean.

But saying there that he died of a pulmonary embolism, is the word we are getting. Still some toxicology reports need to be done.

Our John Zarrella I believe I have on the phone on this case, who is down there in Tampa.

John, let me go ahead and bring you in here. And I want you to address first this weird circumstance and this weird coincidence that Billy Mays happened to be on a plane in Tampa that landed there on Saturday. That blew out a tire, nobody on the plane was injured. But people wondered -- he died after this plane accident, really, that didn't have anything to do with it.

Does it sound like it did here, listening to the officials down there in Tampa?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, no, T.J. In fact, it absolutely does not. And the incident you're referring to, after the plane came to a hard landing, some luggage fell out of the overhead. And Mays talked to a local television station here after the incident and said that a piece of luggage fell on his head but he felt OK.

Then he went home Saturday evening and started to feel a little bit groggy, told his wife and friends he wasn't feeling all that good and went to bed. But the medical examiner, Dr. Vernard Adams, just now, as you were listening to in that news conference held here at the medical examiner's office in Tampa, said that it did not appear, there was no evidence of head trauma, no evidence of any external or internal injuries that they found in the autopsy that could be related to the bump on the head.

As the viewers may have heard in the press conference, they did say that there was some evidence of heart disease, a thickening of the wall of the ventricle and the wall of the artery that takes blood into the heart. So, they are looking at that as a possible cause of death at this point. But, of course, now they're going to go through the toxicology and go through the tissue sampling. And as we know from the Michael Jackson case now, still, this could take several more weeks -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. John Zarrella.

Again, we appreciate you helping on the phone wit us here. Again, giving us the update from Billy Mays -- or about Billy Mays, who died. Of course, the legendary -- or I should say the king of pitchmen, is what I should say, had died suddenly, but again, had nothing to do with that plane he was on in Tampa that lost a wheel. Just happened to be on that, just a strange coincidence.

Again, the other breaking news we are following today coming to us out of New York. Bernard Madoff has been sentenced to 150 years in jail for what he did and what he confessed to doing, was running the largest Ponzi scheme, really, the country has ever seen, bilking investors, thousands of them, out of billions of dollars, literally.

Our Allan Chernoff is there outside of the courtroom.

Still busy there on the streets, we see there behind you. We just heard, Allan, from one man, Burt Ross, who says he lost $5 million. And he did not mince words and said he wanted Madoff to go to the depths of hell, to leave prison an unmourned man.

Was that essentially the theme of what you heard in court from the victims today?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Pretty much was, T.J. They all were arguing for the maximum sentence, then the judge certainly delivered.

The judge did say to Madoff that the breach of trust was massive. He said the fraud here was staggering. He described it as being off the charts. And when he was talking about the charts, he was referring to the criminal charts, the charts that are used for determining sentences.

He said he looked back at some of the white collar crimes, but he said really none of those compared. And Mr. Madoff also did have a chance to address the court, and he turned to his victims who were sitting in the back and said, "I'm sorry." He said, "I cannot offer you an excuse for my behavior." He said that he lives in a "... tormented state knowing all the pain and suffering that I've created." But the judge rejected all of Madoff's pleas, sentencing him to 150 years in prison, the maximum here.

We have a couple of victims with us. This is Ronnie Sue (ph) and Dominic Ambrosino. They've actually been living out in a trailer park.

Arizona, correct?

RONNIE SUE AMBROSINO (ph), MADOFF VICTIM: We're in a motor home.

CHERNOFF: That's right.

And they were on vacation when this all came down, and they say they've been stuck there ever since.

Did you feel any sense of satisfaction having lost your life savings?

R. AMBROSINO: Well, Allan, I admire Judge Chin, and I admire that he cut through all the stuff, and he did the right thing. He did the first step of justice that I've seen, that we've seen since this started.

CHERNOFF: Dominic, you have a lot of experience in this area as a former corrections officer. You know what it's going to be like for Bernard Madoff. You have a unique perspective.

DOMINIC AMBROSINO, MADOFF VICTIM: Well, yes, I do. I told Ronnie Sue (ph) weeks after, and as I've told a lot of people, I don't care if you're Bernard Madoff or a lesser crime person -- victim -- person. When that cell door closes on you for first time, that's something that you'll never forget, never in your life.

CHERNOFF: Do you feel this is a just sentence, Dominic?

D. AMBROSINO: I feel it's a just sentence, but more so, Allan, I feel that it sent a message to the government. It sent a message to the world that he got what he deserves, and hopefully the government will respond in just the same way that Judge Chin did today.

CHERNOFF: And that actually is exactly what Judge Chin said in court. He said he wanted to sentence Mr. Madoff to the maximum because not only of deterrence, setting an example, but he said he also wants to do it for the victims.

And again, Judge Chin referred specifically to a letter that he had received from one victim who had visited Mr. Madoff two weeks after her husband passed away. The victim told Mr. Madoff, and Mr. Madoff, he said, put his arm around her and told her, "Don't worry, your money is safe with me."

T.J. HOLMES: All right. Our Allan Chernoff.

No doubt the judge was going for some symbolism here. Nothing's going to bring these people's lives or their money back.

We appreciate you, Allan.

Let's turn to that side of the story though about the money. What about the money here?

Our Christine Romans covering this part of the story for us.

Christine, we're hearing from some of these victims, and none of them we're hearing from, even after the sentence, nobody smiling, nobody celebrating necessarily here, because they are still out of their money.

Can they have any of their money back?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: They might get some of it back, quite frankly, T.J., but, you know, they could get the satisfaction of having him in prison for 150 years, the rest of his life, but they might get all of their money back. I mean, look, there was -- $13 billion was traced, found in this whole bill scam, and they've been able to identify just about $1.3 billion of it, actually collect about $1.3 billion of it. For some 1,300 investors, that's a lot of folks. And there are hundreds of forensic accountants and lawyers and victims, and the government going over and trying to untangle all of this to figure out who is owed what.

I mean, think about it. Really, T.J., it's a paradox. A Ponzi scheme is pretty much the most classic, simple kind of scam there is named after that legendary classic scammer, Charles Ponzi. It's where he takes from people and gives them a return. They think they're getting a return. When they want their money back, he gives them their money back with interest because he's getting more money from other people, this fresh flow of money, and everything is great unless something goes south. And that's what happened here.

People started to try to get their money out and couldn't, and the scam blew up in his face. Now people are trying to figure out even how much money was really there to begin with.

HOLMES: Yes. And a lot of people were affected here. Individuals, no doubt, and families. But, you know, it hurts to see -- there were some universities and also some charities that got hit pretty hard by investing with this guy.

ROMANS: Yes. And T.J., some of them didn't even know they were investing with Bernie Madoff. They were investing through someone else, someone they trusted, someone that was promising them good returns. And these charities, these religious foundations, these organizations -- NYU, for example, the Elie Wiesel Foundation, Yeshiva University, I mean, they had millions and millions of dollars with him and may not have even known they were investing with him.

There are also Hollywood investors. You remember the beginning of this coverage, late last fall, there was all this talk about the Hollywood elite who were investing. Again, they may not have known in some cases they were investing with him, but it was kind of a who's who list of Hollywood insiders. You know, Kevin Bacon and John Malkovich and Zsa Zsa Gabor.

But remember, of those 1,300 investors, there are a lot of people like Burt Ross, who you just showed, like the couple living in the motor home in Arizona. We've spoken to dozens and dozens of people who are now looking at living on Social Security, asking their children to help them, trying to get a full-time job in the worst job market in a generation. It's really catastrophic for a lot of folks.

HOLMES: All right.

Our Christine Romans keeping an eye on this part of the story for us.

Christine, we appreciate you, as always.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

ROMANS: Well, U.S. troops moving out of Iraqi cities. But are Iraqis glad to see them go? Well, they're throwing a party. What does that tell you? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued decision on several high profile cases today, and in one of them, siding with firefighters in Connecticut over the role race should play in job placement, in job advancement. At issue, a reverse discrimination case, as it's being called, over the city's duty to carry out the results of employment tests even if they reduce job opportunities for minority workers.

Twenty mostly white New Haven firefighters claim they were declined promotion because of their race. The city feared a lawsuit from minority applicants if test results were not thrown out.

A civil rights law bans actions that have a disparate impact on a protected class such as specific race or gender. Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor's federal appeals court heard the original appeal in the case and rejected the claim of white firefighters. This case tests how far race can be use to achieve diversity on the job.

Jeffrey Toobin, can you help me make sense of what I just said?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Unfortunately, this is a tricky factual situation in this case. But the bottom line here is the white firefighters did well on this test. New Haven was worried about being sued by black firefighters who would have said the test is no good.

So they threw out the test and started over. But before they could start over, the white firefighters sued. They said, hey, a deal is a deal. You said the test was going to be determined who gets promoted, we think the test should prevail.

The Supreme Court, by 5-4, said that the white firefighters were right and the city of New Haven was wrong. That once -- they said, in effect, once you set up a test like this, you have to let the test proceed.

And what makes this case politically interesting is that in the lower court, in the court of appeals, Sonia Sotomayor, who is, of course, going to be -- who has been nominated for the Supreme Court, she sided with the city of New Haven, with the black firefighters, and her view was overruled. It was agreed to by four justices, but five were on the other side.

HOLMES: OK. It was close there in terms of Sotomayor, four agree with her, still. It was really split, but still, is this going to be an issue that comes up? I mean, she's about to join the court, it appears, maybe, if she gets the support and gets okayed. But she's going to join a court that just struck down, or reversed, at least, one of her earlier decisions.

TOOBIN: Right. And that's not unprecedented. Court of Appeals judges get overturned and sometimes they wind up going on the Supreme Court.

But what's really interesting about this case is that it illustrates a big legal issue that is very much unresolved at the moment, which is, how much can an employer, how much can a university consider race as one factor in promotions, in admissions, all those issues? There are conservatives on the court, certainly Justice Scalia, Justice Thomas, who think, no way, you cannot consider race at all under any circumstances.

There are liberals on the court who say, look, diversity is a quality that matters in this society. We want and it's OK for employers, for universities to consider race in admissions or in promotions.

That battle is unsettled. We don't know how that's going to turn out.

I don't think it's really going to affect Sotomayor's confirmation at this point. She seems like she's in pretty good shape. But that issue of what place race has, that's going to be something that the Supreme Court is dealing with for the next decade, for sure.

HOLMES: Last thing here, do we know what's going to happen now? Do they get the promotions?

TOOBIN: Chances are they get the promotion. It will go back for further proceedings, but when the Supreme Court says something, people tend to follow it.

HOLMES: People tend to listen. You are always listening.

Our expert on the Supreme Court, no doubt, Jeffrey Toobin, chief legal analyst.

Appreciate you helping me out there, buddy. Thanks so much.

TOOBIN: OK.

HOLMES: Well, the New Haven firefighters, they will be holding a news conference. Expecting it at 1:00 Eastern Time. We will be monitoring that for you and let you know what comes out of there.

Meanwhile, we want to get back to our other breaking story today, the Bernard Madoff case, of course. He got 150 years, was just sentenced not too long ago for bilking thousands of investors out of billions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme.

CNN Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff is standing by for us once again outside the courthouse.

And I believe you have another victim with you there, Allan.

CHERNOFF: That's right. You know, T.J., many of the victims had put money with Bernard Madoff for decades. They trusted their life savings, they put more money in as time went on. And then there are some who had just heard of Bernard Madoff, who had just put money in.

One of those victims is with us right now. Sharon Lissauer. She is a model. She invested with Bernard Madoff in November, just a month before Mr. Madoff was arrested and confessed his crimes.

Sharon, you were in the courtroom. You spoke. Mr. Madoff heard you.

How do you feel after the 150-year sentence?

SHARON LISSAUER, MADOFF VICTIM: I feel that was the right sentence. If he had just gotten 12 years, like his lawyers recommended, I would have been so crushed.

I was already very emotional, and it was really hard for me not to fall apart. But even with 150 years -- in the courtroom, I didn't ask him, I begged him if he really felt sorry, which he said he did.

CHERNOFF: Do you believe that?

LISSAUER: No, I don't. I don't believe he has any remorse. This would have never continued for God know how many years if he had remorse. But if he had even a little, and if I was able to get through to him, even a little bit, then he would divulge any offshore accounts he has, which I believe he does have.

CHERNOFF: And in court you also spoke about your human spirit and what this experience has done. Can you share that with us?

LISSAUER: Yes. He broke my spirit. I'm no longer the same person.

I had a European upbringing, and I wasn't taught that people cheated people like this. I didn't even know what a Ponzi scheme was. And how am I ever going to trust anybody again?

I was the most trusting and maybe the most gullible and vulnerable person, and now I'm no longer the same person. It's really -- modeling is really slow, and I'm having trouble paying my bills. And I'm so frightened for my future. I don't know what the future holds.

CHERNOFF: Those indeed were very emotional words that you shared with us, just as you did share in the courtroom.

One other question. Bernard Madoff, at the very end of his presentation, when he said, "I'm sorry," he turned around to the victims, because he did not face the victims during the entire proceeding. But for a few seconds he did, and when he turned around to face the victims, tell us, what were your thoughts?

LISSAUER: I was glad he faced the victims. But to be honest, I think I would have felt a lot better when each and every victim spoke if he had faced them individually. And if I could have begged him to his face to just -- to talk about his offshore accounts or disclose them, I think I would have had -- I don't know if I would have had any impact, but I would have felt that I would have been able to get through to him a little more than speaking to his back.

CHERNOFF: Sharon Lissauer, thank you so much.

LISSAUER: Thank you.

CHERNOFF: Best of luck to you. We appreciate your sharing your sentiments. LISSAUER: Thank you very much.

CHERNOFF: And indeed, Judge Chin did sympathize with the victims, and even said in court that he essentially did not believe Bernard Madoff. The judge said that he was convinced the fraud started well before Mr. Madoff had said it started in the 1990s, and Judge Chin giving that 150-year prison sentence, the max -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Our Allan Chernoff.

We appreciate you.

Tough to hear some of these stories from victims today. But again, they heard what they wanted to hear in court, but there was no celebrating, if you will, no smiles necessarily on the faces of those victims today.

Stay with us. We are following this breaking story on Bernard Madoff and many other breaking developments here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, Iran's election turmoil having an impact in the U.S. as well. Several people rallied yesterday in Pittsburgh to support demonstrators in Iran.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're against the results of the election in Iran. We're against the general idea of having a half democracy in Iran. And we don't like the way the protesters in Iran are being treated for voicing their concerns against that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right. A partial recount of Iran's presidential election result is happening right now.

Let's hear more on this from our Reza Sayah over at our Iran Desk here in the NEWSROOM.

Reza, of course, a lot of people recognize, spent some time covering the post-election turmoil there in Iran.

We're talking about counting some of the results. What's the point, Reza?

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has come out and said over and over again that he doesn't want a partial recount. But today in Iran, the Guardian Council basically said we're going to do a partial recount anyway on state-run TV. The spokesperson for Iran's top legislative body said they are going to recount 10 percent of the vote, but there's all sorts of indications that this isn't going to make a difference.

Today, the minister of intelligence came out and infaticly said there was no fraud in the elections. And keep in mind, Iran's supreme leader himself had come out earlier and said even with this partial recount, it's not going to impact the outcome of the vote because of the large margin of victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, T.J. So all sorts of indications, this is just a formality.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: So, it's just a formality. It's not going to make anybody feel better. It really seems like a futile exercise.

Let's move on to something else here. Neda, the young lady who -- just had video, it appears this lady being killed in the streets there during one of the demonstrations. Well, the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, coming out and saying something about her. And here's a picture of her that we have.

SAYAH: Yes, Neda was shot and killed two Saturdays ago. Protesters accusing members of the Basij. But today, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came out and called her death suspicious and wrote a letter to the judiciary calling for an investigation. But based on his statement, the president is already convinced Neda was not killed by Iranian security forces.

Here's his statement. "The massive propaganda of the foreign media, as well as other evidence, proves the interference of the enemies of the Iranian nation who want to take advantage and darken the pure face of the Islamic Republic."

And it's important to note, T.J., at this point, we've had government officials offer three separate explanations as to who killed Neda. They've blame the CIA, they've blamed a terrorist group and they've blame protesters themselves.

HOLMES: All right. Let's get an update from you here, Reza, on one more situation we were watching and that was British employees -- employees, at least, of the British embassy there who are arrested, detained. I believe we have an update on them?

SAYAH: Yes, those individuals were local employees of the British embassy in Tehran. They were arrested over the weekend and accused by authorities of having a significant role in the demonstrations. Today, authorities came out and said five of them have been released. Of course, British officials have condemned these arrests today. Gordon Brown, the prime minister, had something to say about the arrest. Here's Gordon Brown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORDON BROWN, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We are deeply disappointed that Iran has detained some of Britain's staff in Tehran. Some have been now released, but we must now set -- see that the others are set free to resume their work. Iran's actions, first the expulsion of two diplomats and now the arrest of a number of our local engaged (ph) staff, is unacceptable, unjustified and without foundation. And we, with our international partners, will continue to make this clear to the Iranian regime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAYAH: That was British Prime Minister Gordon Brown with some harsh words for Iran. And the situation in Iran has really impacted relations between Tehran and London. There you see an example right there.

LEMON: All right, Reza Sayah keeping an eye on things for us in Iran from our Iran desk here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Reza, we appreciate you.

We want to turn now from Iran to Iraq. Very close by. Our Michael Ware is standing by, joining us live from Baghdad.

Michael, hello to you again.

Tomorrow is the day. It's deadline day for U.S. troops to be pulling out of those cities. The question is, are the Iraqi forces ready to step up?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a couple of things. First, T.J., it's actually less than a day. We're at about four and a half hours away. And there is celebrations aplenty here in Baghdad, the capital. And there's been other celebrations around the country.

And, in fact, I just came from a public park not from the bureau here and there were hundreds, perhaps thousands of people dancing and singing and celebrating. And just simply mocking the fact that as far as they (ph) were concerned, the Americans were going, at least out of their city, Baghdad.

Now, to the point you turned to, security. There was another car bombing today. Nine police officers killed in the northern city of Mosul, two more wounded, bringing the death total of the last eight or nine days to something like 220.

The answer to your question specifically, are the Iraqi security forces ready? It's a very simple answer, T.J. No. No, they are not. And that's why you're still going to have 130,000 American troops here, albeit largely restricted to their bases outside of the city, limited to operations in the desert and in the Green Zone around Baghdad. And they need to undue right (ph) the Iraqi security forces and provide the heavy fire power that the Iraqis lack. Nonetheless, the Iraqis are insistent as of midnight tonight, just a few hours away, this is their war.

T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Our Michael Ware keeping an eye on things there for us. And like you said, just a few hours away from deadline day in Baghdad, in Iraq.

Thank you so much, Michael. We'll talk to you again soon.

Meanwhile, of course, we are staying very close to the Bernard Madoff story. He's not only going to prison, he's also seeing his massive fortune simply disappear. Josh Levs keeping up with that for us.

Hello again, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there to you, T.J.

Check this out. Let's zoom in for a second. I want you to see this. It is day of reckoning for a member of the rich and infamous. We're going to show you what he had to give up as he went from this to this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: If you've been with us here, you know that Bernard Madoff has gotten the maximum, getting 150 years in prison. The former Nasdaq chairman and Wall Street financier was sentenced just a short time ago. Madoff ran a decades long Ponzi scheme and cost investors millions of dollars. Applause broke out in that courtroom when the judge announced the sentence. Earlier victims told the judge, Madoff had made life a living hell. Madoff did get up in court today and apologized and said he'd live with the torment for the rest of his life.

Well, there's a lot of stuff he's not going to be living with the rest of his life, and that's a lot of the luxuries he was used to. Our Josh Levs keeping an eye on exactly what he necessarily didn't have to give up, was taken from him.

LEVS: Taken from him. We're going to show you, actually, right now. Let's just zoom right in. I want you to see -- this is from CNN money, from Fortune, which is part of our team at cnnmoney.com. We have a great spread on what he's had to give up. We've got an upper east side apartment worth $5 million or more. You have this yacht, 55.5 foot yacht that was taken. You have this right here. All of those rides in private jets. He may have had two private planes they could have on call at any time.

A Palm Beach mansion. The Madoff's own a $9.4 million home in Palm Beach. That's a shot right there. This Palm Beach country club, as we know, that played a pretty big role in where he was getting some of his investors. Obviously the time spent there is gone.

Also, an ocean front mansion. Bernard Madoff, 10 million -- there you go, you can see here, one of the properties being posted to security the $10 million bond was this $3 million home there in Montauk. And I think we have one more to represent the kind of lifestyle that's been gone (ph). Meals at The Palm.

Meanwhile, we have a shot here of where he's been now for three months. The Metropolitan Correctional Center. You just saw the lavish lifestyle. This is where he's been since March.

One more thing I want to tell you about that really helps you understand this story, is we have a time line for you on CNN Money. We've grabbed some of that info. Let's go to these graphics here. I want to trace you through some of the big dates that brought us to today. It actually all starts last December, December 10. That's when he allegedly confessed to the company advisers and to two of his sons who then informed the police. And it was the next day now, December 11th, that he was arrested charged with security fraud. It was four days after that, he was under house arrest. So it's really been since that time that he's been under the watchful eye of authorities now six months long.

A couple more things I want to show you. February, some people might not know this, but it was in February the Massachusetts secretary of state said that Ruth Madoff, his wife, withdrew $15 million the day before Bernard Madoff was arrested.

And just a couple more here. March 10, 2009, that's when his attorney said he would be pleading guilty to 11 counts and it was the 12th when he actually did plead guilty. And that led up to the sentencing, which we saw today.

Lots more info for you at cnnmoney.com. Help you see that story. Also help you see that lifestyle that has now gone down the drain.

T.J.

HOLMES: All right, Josh Levs, we appreciate you this afternoon. Thank you so much.

We'll turn to the situation in Honduras after a coup there. Who's exactly in charge? Kind of depends on who you ask. Also, how will the U.S. and the world respond to what's happening there?

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HOLMES: And, as always, your source for money news, you can check out our website, cnnmoney.com for the latest. And as you see there, right up front, one of the big things happening in the financial world today are Bernie Madoff getting 150 years in prison. That's his sentence.

Also, we'll tell you that the Dow is up, what is it, 86 points right about now. We'll take it. Also let you know that the Nasdaq's up about 13 points at last check. Our financial team will be all over the news of the day on Wall Street.

Meanwhile, we'll turn to Honduras now. A coup there this weekend sending shock waves throughout the world really, the region. Certainly Washington, D.C., as well. Soldiers removed the president, Manuel Zelaya, from his bed in pajamas, put him on a plane, sent him to Costa Rica. The U.N. General Assembly is meeting this hour over the political crisis. Our Karl Penhaul has been covering this story for us.

I guess it depends on who you ask, who's the president? Who's in charge right now?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, on the one hand, in Nicaragua, which is where the former president, Manuel Zelaya is right now, he claims that he's still the president. He's participating in meeting with Latin American leaders as the Honduran president. And then back in Honduras, you've got the new guy, Roberto Micheletti, who was the former head of congress, who was sworn in by congress and obviously with the back (ph) in the military yesterday. So you've got this real power tussle going on.

HOLMES: And for people who don't really -- don't remember or don't recognize what was happening, it appeared to be, or some thought there was a power play by Zelaya, wanted to stay in power. The supreme court there saying, no, you can't do that and essentially accused him of being some kind of criminal.

PENHAUL: There is a lot of background to that. And as you say, President Zelaya had wanted to hold a referendum to see if the people, the voters, would allow him to continue his mandate for another four years. But really what's at the heart of this is a fight between the haves and the have-notes. Somebody like Zelaya who tries to represent the interests of the 70 percent poor majority in Honduras and then he's committed a confrontation with a powerful business and political elites. So they're both on a collision course.

HOLMES: Has the -- well, the so-called new president, Micheletti, and Zelaya, do they have a history?

PENHAUL: They're both from the same party, but, again, that doesn't really mean much because in Honduras, like in much of Central America and Latin America, it's a whole political stripes really don't count for much. What really does count is what business elites, what political groups you're tied to, what economic groups you're tied to and they, obviously, fall on different sides of the coin there and that's why they're fighting.

HOLMES: What is the rest of the world, and especially Washington, D.C., supposed to do now, there's a leader there that nobody is recognizing outside of Honduras?

PENHAUL: Exactly. It's been pretty unanimous and that really is something that Latin America was looking to Washington for, for some real positive decision on this, some positive statement on this because Barack Obama went to Trinidad and Tobago not so long ago and promised this new deal for Latin America. And so the Latin Americans are pretty pleased with that.

But what comes next? You're looking at a Honduras that's going to be isolated because nobody is recognizing it. On the one hand, you've got the U.N. meeting today, but you've also go the Latin America leaders. President Chavez from Venezuela has even pledged to take some kind of military action, especially if his Venezuelan diplomats aren't respected there.

HOLMES: All right. So this situation could certainly escalate.

Karl Penhaul, we appreciate you stepping up and good to see you here in Atlanta with us. Thanks so much, buddy (ph).

We -- taking a look there. I believe we have some pictures to show you here. This is of a partial parking deck collapse. This is in downtown Atlanta. Now you can't make out so much from this picture here, this is coming to us from WSB. We can go to some other video here. But you see the cars there that appear to be crushed. Again, this is happening not too far from where we sit in downtown Atlanta. We're going to get more on exactly where this is. Important to note, no reports of injuries right now. But this picture just coming into us. Information just coming into us. We will keep you updated right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Yes, severe weather, Chad. We all have been thinking about tornadoes and the lightning and the wind and the hurricanes. All this. It could be heat too.

(WEATHER REPORT)

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HOLMES: Well, it's a day of celebration in Iraq. It is deadline day for American combat troops to leave Iraq cities. It's just a few hours away now. Most of the 130,000 Americans have already moved on to military bases outside the cities. The move is part of a security pact signed by Baghdad and Washington. Iraq forces are assuming security operations in all of those cities.

Well, the Iraq War has left a lot of American troops wounded. More than 31,000 according to the Defense Department. Our Barbara Starr now brings us the story of two soldiers who survived a roadside bomb.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Army Captain Shannon Mehan (ph) and Sergeant Hollie Clevenger, it's not easy to talk about what has happened since one roadside bomb injured both of them in Iraq.

CAPT. SHANNON MEHAN, U.S. ARMY: Before the blast went off, I remember seeing like this just real small glint of light.

SGT. HOLLIE CLEVENGER, U.S. ARMY: I just remember feeling the ground just erupt beneath me.

STARR: It's been nearly two years. Shannon shows us his war photography.

MEHAN: This is a mortar round that landed near us and did not detonate.

STARR: Hollie is helping him edit a book he is writing about the war.

MEHAN: I was able to come to terms with it more by writing it down.

STARR: But it was only after this interview we learned how deep the pain really is for both soldiers. When the attack happened, Hollie comforted Shannon.

CLEVENGER: He was just talking gibberish. It was -- I didn't even know what he was saying. MEHAN: I was . . .

CLEVENGER: He was just completely out of it.

MEHAN: But when they got back to Fort Hood, it was Shannon's turn.

CLEVENGER: You know, Captain Mehan was actually the one told me about possibly being able to get into the WTU.

STARR: That warrior transition units was a life saver.

CLEVENGER: Everything was in a little shoe box kind of and I had PTSD here and TBI here and dealing with the loss of my father, my sister being sick, my own medical situation.

STARR: Hollie's father died of cancer. Then, her sister was diagnosed with breast cancer.

CLEVENGER: One day kind of opened that closet figuratively and everything just kind of fell out on top of me. And that's when I knew I really needed help.

STARR: Both are now in treatment for Post Traumatic Stress and brain injuries.

MEHAN: I still have therapy and talking with my counselors about what had happened over there, what I had seen, some of the things that I had done and endured.

STARR: Both urge other troubled troops to help each other as they did.

CLEVENGER: We're all in this together. We're a family as a unit. You have to help each other.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: And, T.J., you'll remember, as we started the piece, I told you there was more to it than all of this. Well, after we turned the camera off, we found out from both of these young soldiers when they were no longer on camera, so much more about what had happened to them. Hollie Clevenger told us that after her family suffered from all these cancer bouts, she went ahead and had a preventative double mastectomy as a young woman. And after that, she became so distressed she had contemplated suicide.

Shannon Mehan told us that his need for counseling, therapy and help began much earlier than the IED attack he suffered. He had called in an artillery strike one day not knowing that there were Iraqi children present when those bombs and those artillery shells fell. Just an indication of even as the troops achieve the great success of leaving Iraq, so many troops still struggling to cope.

T.J.

HOLMES: Well, struggling. And if you can quickly just tell us, what are they telling you? What do these soldiers tell you is the most critical part of trying to get help?

STARR: Every one of them will tell you that the most critical part is to ask for help. On military bases all over the United States and all over the world, there's much more attention now being paid to mental health issues. There are phone numbers posted, websites they can go to, counselors they can get help from. Reaching out is the first step they say.

HOLMES: Well, Barbara Starr, thank you so much for bringing that to us. Barbara Starr from the Pentagon today, thank you so much.

For now, I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for Tony Harris. Going to hand it over now to Kyra Phillips in the CNN NEWSROOM.