NEW YORK — Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff will remain in prison until he is sentenced in one of history's largest frauds.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan today issued its written ruling, a day after hearing arguments from a lawyer for the 70-year-old former Nasdaq chairman seeking his release.

The appeals court said U.S. District Judge Denny Chin did not clearly err when he sent Madoff to prison last week immediately after Madoff confessed that he had defrauded thousands of investors of billions of dollars for at least two decades.

Chin had cited Madoff's age and said the possibility of life in prison heightened the incentive to flee. Madoff faces up to 150 years in prison at sentencing, scheduled for June 16.

By The Associated Press