Bernie Madoff's least believable statement

From a New York Times article on the interviews with Bernie Madoff:

Despite what Mr. Madoff described as the chronic ineptitude of the S.E.C., he said in the interview that he was “worried every time” examiners showed up.
“That was the nightmare I lived with,” he said, and he told Mr. Kotz he had wanted it to end. “I wish they caught me six years ago, eight years ago.

This isn't a credible statement. Eight years ago he already had a multibillion dollar fraud. So Madoff actually is saying he would rather have gone to prison for life at 62 than have 8 more years of high living and go to prison for life at 70.

This is stuff people say when they have become habitual liars, which certainly applies to a person who ran a Ponzi scheme for decades.