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As Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison, some Connecticut victims of his Ponzi scheme say they're glad to see him get the maximum sentence, but it doesn’t help them in their quest for compensation.

On the day the sentence was handed down, Connecticut will now have a new law on the books attempting to crack down on similar fraud. 

Attorney for the town of Fairfield, Richard Saxall voiced the frustrations of thousands who still have yet to see any sign of their missing money.

"I’m glad he went to jail, but it doesn’t help the town of Fairfield recoup monies that it lost from its pension funds."

Fairfield is in better shape than most – Saxall says it now has attachments and bonds totaling $25m against various actors in the Madoff fraud. 

Marking the day of the sentencing, Governor Jodi Rell signed into a law a bill that expands Connecticut’s organized crime statute to include securities fraud. 

"It allows the state to freeze the assets of anyone convicted of defrauding investors, purposely defrauding someone to take their money is a bigger crime now.  If the defendant transfers property to avoid forfeiture, the court will have the power to set aside that forfeiture." she said. 

Representative Pat Dillon, the bill’s backer says she believes Madoff may have hidden assets before his arrest, and it’s entirely appropriate for Connecticut to be taking this kind of action. 

"We need to have vigilance on the state level, if only to protect our own people.  We can’t rely on the federal government if they’re going to keep dropping the ball – we can’t." 

The act also sets in place a study that will look at ways to set up a fund to reimburse victims of securities fraud.