Markoff claims indigency, owes $130,000 on student loans

It would be best with all the damning evidence if he changed his plea to guilty and just get it over with.

What was he going to live on once he got married?

News flash: EVERY medical student has $130,000+ in student loans. BU in particular is among the most expensive.

She was not a masseuse, she was a prostitute.

So...he has been in school for six years (with two more to go), owes $130,000 and is broke?? Welcome to higher learning in America.

Why is $130K a headline?? He's a med student! Most graduate students have $100K in debt - med school, law school....let's focus on the facts of the case!

Wrong, Matt! You have $130,000 + in student loans after you are DONE with Med school.

Give me a break...this isn't news....every medical student owes six-figures in student loans....the evidence is overwhelming in this case, but the fact that he owes a ton in school loans as a medical student is not a big surprise.....

Give Markoff a weekend furlough to Foxwoods so he can win the money to pay for the lawyers.

He's a big show off. Wanted to say he's a Big Man by living in a Luxury apt to impress his Honey Bunny!!! What a loser he turned to be.
Ladies, beware of guys like this sllme!!!

Yeah, it'd really be more surprising to learn that he DIDN'T have an obscene amount of student loan debt...I'm surprised his parents or someone hasn't stepped in to pay for the attorney or anything.

I don't see the story here. All medical students have loans over $100K. I'm in business school and I'll have student loans around $70K. This is reality. He / I would pay them off once you get a job. It's why you go to school, to make more money and pay off your laons.

How much of the "student loan" money did he spend at Foxwoods?

A chilly reality, majority of medical and law students have the EXACTLY same if not worse financial situation as Mr. Markoff, more troubling: growing numbers of law school and medical school graduates CAN NOT Pass bar or board exams. The end result is this: after spend at least $150.000 and 3 and/or more years advanced level of educational traning, "Lawyer" and "Doctor" in Name ONLY !!

He pled not guilty so he can cut a deal later on and maybe cut some years off of his sentence, and at the same time, the state saves money by not having to prosecute him. It is standard procedure. Pleading guilty at the beginning is a bad strategic move. He can't bring the young woman back to life so he will probably eventually try to salvage what is left of his life. People wonder why this continues in the news, well it is an unsual story. Med student tries to support his gambling habit by robbing women in the sex trade. Not your everyday event.

maybe he was going to pay-off the student loans by taking out a life insurance policy on his wife once they were married.

Many students out of med schools have 100k+ USD loans. Provided he graduated and got a decent residency, he could have paid it off easily in due time. The debt was enhanced and urgency probably set in for that one moment when he blew all the money. For a young man with great potential, it is obvious he chose the career for something tangible, reputation, or anything else but the principal of medicine. He would have looked much further down the road and realize he would eat some dirt on the way.

Why would you target a prostitute?. Hardly any repercussion or resistance, considered a by-product by most humans, and carry small amounts of money for his supposed gambling tendencies. Markoff probably assumed authorities would consider it another open and shut case, the nth prostitution case.

Either or, horrid and wary of the Madoffs and the Markoffs.

I agree with a few of the previous comments, please give us some context to decide whether $130,000 in loans for a 4th year med student is above, below, or just plain average. I expect better reporting from the Globe.

"...robbed another Las Vegas prostitute at gunpoint four days earlier." It should read 'a' not 'another' as she was a masseuse. It kills me how the Globe continues to pass judgment on these victims.

Also, so what that he is broke? How many Black or Hispanic individuals do not have money for an attorney? I am supposed to feel sorry or something? Why do I care that he is in deep debt (yet still lived in a 1400 a month apartment while a STUDENT)??? I lived a paupers life in graduate school, had roommates and did not go to casinos.

How pathetic that the city, which prides itself on educating our children, talks about money first. 19-23yo? Damn Boston....

where to begin...1) Tuition is out of hand because funds are so readily available, remind you of the housing market? 2) Legalize Prostitution. 3) I hope my tax money isn't paying for that suicide watch, we're better off without these self-entitled, self-indulgent jerks.

Of course he had big student loans like thousands of others. The difference is whether it was causing him a lot of worry and stress. Also, his finace likely had similar debt bringing the total to around a quarter million or more. Have his grades been revealed? If he was running around robbing people and going off to gamble, perhaps his studies were lagging.

would those loans now be considered sub prime?

A college student accused of murder is in debt due to tuition loans and can't afford a laywer.. Why is this even news worthy? It's no wonder The Globe is going bankrupt printing drivel like this..

Interesting that we haven't heard a peep from the fiancee for a couple of days. I bet it's finally sunken in that Phil isn't going to be some hotshot surgeon raking in six figures. I don't understand why women run after doctors anyway - they keep insane hours and a good chunk of them are narcissists.

According to the Today Show, Markoff was also cruising the gay section of Craigslist, sending erotic photos of himself to other men...

Aaah, the Globe. It's been a long time since Charles Stuart, but they're proving they've still got that old spirit of mendacious unprofessionalism. Newspaper subscriptions are down 7% nationwide this month and here a good example of why.

Why should you care, rroooopp? Because YOUR GOING TO END UP PAYING FOR IT! Promising career and everything and we are left holding the bag, Obamas bailout I can deal with, whether my kids will be able to is yet to be seen. I love this generation, money isn't everything, who cares? When you have to shoulder the debt you will care, when you own a house and have to pay exorbitant property taxes, you will care. When you have to pay fees for your kids to play ice hockey or basketball. you will care. Until that day live it up
WHILE THE REST OF US PAY! Join the real world will you already. It is a beautiful thing to be PC when you don't wake up to the fact that THIS KIND OF IGNORANCE IS GOING TO COST YOU BIG BUCKS!

I have more than $200,000 in student loan debt, graduated top of my class, passed two bar exams quite easily, have great experience, and have no job. Welcome to the real world of today. Markoff's $130,000 debt and indigence is no surprise. And a $1400 per month apartment is not luxury -- it is basic apartment in most larger cities. So he gets a lawyer paid by from the public defender money, as he is supposed to. Unlike many or most defendants, Markoff's relatives have been contributing the the tax coffers for many long years, and he deserves to make use of its services. Educated white people can also be poor. All this discrimination that only Blacks or Hispanics should be able to make use of our tax-supported public services is nonsense.

All who posted here read it because it has all the deviance we love to read about, crime, murder, sex, prostitutes, gambling, and of course, the money. The media gives us what we want or we dont read or buy it. Dont blame the media, Blame the public appetite for sex and violence stories. Sleaze sells.
The article point is that taxpayers will have to pay for the whole trial, both defense and the prosecution, because he has no money and was living on student loans as a med student.

I think it's disingenuous of the Boston Globe to headline his debt as implying it was some motive for killing and robbing someone. Having a hundred thousand in debt for a 4th year med student is not out of the ordinary. In fact, it's expected. Most med students have that type of debt and don't pay most of it off until they graduate.

If there's a story about debt here, I'd be looking into a gambling addiction rather than student debt.

of course those expenses are about right...he had loans from his 4 years at SUNY, and if he was using loans to live on as well (which he is here) then they would be slightly higher than for someone who wasn't...but most people today use the loan $$ for rent...maybe not a $1400/,month luxury apt...but for rent and living expenses.

I would love to know , just what does his girlfreind think of her perfect boyfriend now?? SO MUCH FOR THE WEDDING!!!!!!!

I agree with comment #19. Is it really that big of a surprise to go to med school in Boston and have debt?? Who doesn't have student loans? What's surprising is that his family is not pitching in for a lawyer. But if I had a son who was killing people and is ultimately going to be spending his life in jail, I guess it wouldn't make much sense to pay for legal counsel.

I really wish they'd stop calling a 1BR apt at $1400 / mo "luxury" and stop referring to this building as a "luxury high-rise." That's like average middle class rent. Ridiculous sensationalism

BU tuition is about $42k per year. With expenses, they budget out around $65k per year. 1.5 years at BUSM, then tack on all the loans from undergrad, and it isnt at all surprising that he has that much in debt.

Can the govt sue for fraud though? If he's spending federal aid money on gambling....or purchasing unlicensed firearms?

I graduated Optometry with $150k in debt.I paid it in 7 years.With interest it was 200k total.I make 100k a year