An eternity of isolation and “really bad nightmares” are in the cards for a cowering Bernie Madoff.
Davinia, a British psychic who read the Ponzi schemer’s palm six years ago, predicted the dire future for the “really afraid” fraudster as she read his tarot cards at The Post’s request.
The prediction might reassure those bilked by Bernie, who admitted to a record $65 billion investment fraud and faces up to 150 years in prison at his sentencing today by Manhattan federal Judge Denny Chin.
“He’s really afraid of what’s going to happen,” said Davinia, who perused the fraudster’s palm at the 2003 Christmas party for his London office.
“He’s used to being very buoyed up by other people’s idea of him, and that’s just cut away,” added the psychic, who read the cards on a table at her Bristol, England, home.
The first card, the Five of Swords, suggests that “people hate him.
The second, the Judgment Card, shows that “what you give will come back to you in the end,” Davinia said.
“And I’ve got the Emperor Card, which is somebody that’s very arrogant and self-centered and very sure of himself.”
While legal experts do not expect Chin to sentence the 71-year-old swindler to the maximum, they believe the judge will make certain he spends the rest of his life in prison.
“Even by giving him 20 some-odd years, that’s the equivalent of a life sentence,” former prosecutor Brad Simon said.
Public pressure to hammer Madoff is “enormous,” Simon said, adding that Chin’s decision to lock him up after his March guilty plea is “an example of why I don’t think he’s going to show any mercy.”
Another clue can be seen in the 78-month sentence Chin imposed last year on Ponzi schemer Alex Rabinovich for his comparatively puny, $2.3 million scam. Rabinovich’s lawyer, Salvatore Strazzullo, said Madoff is “probably looking at 40 or 50 years, just to send a message.
“Other people, similar to what my client was accused of, got two to three years,” he said.
The federal Bureau of Prisons will decide where Madoff serves his time.
A source predicted he’ll be sent to a medium-security or “Level 3” facility — which is surrounded by barbed-wire fences — because a long sentence makes him a flight risk.
Additional reporting by Kati Cornell and Andy Geller