So as expected, Bernard Madoff got the max: 150 years in the slammer for perpetrating his vile Ponzi Scheme. For his part, Madoff delivered a big apology to the victims. But interesting questions remain.

Was there money laundering involved? And if so, wouldn't that make some of his victims perpetrators too? Diane Francis at the National Post says that might be a possibility.

Francis writes: "Here's how money laundering would have worked: Unsavory people, from drug cartels to gangsters or greedy tax evaders, are forced to keep their ill-gotten gains hidden from police or tax authorities in dirty-money havens. In order to get their money out so they can spend it, they hire such people as Mr. Madoff to "clean" their cash. On paper, they "invest" huge sums in capital in Madoff funds in return for 10% a year in dividends. But only the 10%, plus fees for Madoff, are transferred to Madoff so he can pay the crooks in a taxable jurisdiction. In other words, the crooks pretend to give him millions to invest, he pretends to invest it, and he collects big fees for transferring to them 10% every year of their hidden capital."

Now that Madoff has been put away, who else is going to go down? As Robert Lenzner from Forbes notes, bankruptcy Trustee Irving Picard says there are some who got returns of 100% or more, redirected from other people's money. You can bet they'll be targets of the government's continuing investigation. And then again, Madoff's wife Ruth might be looking at a stint in jail too.

Madoff is the poster boy of corporate greed. But he was allowed to get away with it for years. We can blame the incompetent Securities and Exchange Commission turning a blind eye. Surely, the SEC should be brought to account for the suffering it has caused?

And will his sentence be a deterrent? One would imagine that Allen Stanford might be a worried man today, assuming he is found guilty of his Ponzi scheme. Still, as the 24/7 Wall Street blog says, 150 years might not be that big a deal if people think they can get away with it.

"There may not be anyone who can improve on the scale and ingenuity of Madoff's fraud. However, it is a recurring theme in human nature that someone in the next decades will try to create another scheme that will be as elaborate and convincing as Madoff's was. The system for preventing fraud is not unlike the one set up to curtail drug trafficking. The most intelligent and ruthless people often find a way around the law. They can sometimes dodge the consequences for years. A tiny portion of them are never caught. It is easy to be daring when fame and fortune are more important than the worst consequences and being remembered for being lawless is much more rewarding than being remembered for being a good citizen."