Bernie Madoff Dead: Orchestrator of Largest Ponzi Scheme in History Was 82

Bernie Madoff, a former financier who was behind bars after pleading guilty to involvement in the [...]

Bernie Madoff, a former financier who was behind bars after pleading guilty to involvement in the largest Ponzi scheme in history, died on Wednesday in federal prison at age 82, the Associated Press reports. A source said that Madoff died at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, apparently from natural causes. The source, a person familiar with the matter, was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

On June 29, 2009, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison, the maximum sentence, though last year his lawyers filed court papers in an effort to get him released amid the pandemic, claiming he had suffered from end-stage renal disease and other chronic medical conditions. The request was denied by Judge Denny Chin, whose ruling noted that Madoff committed "one of the most egregious financial crimes of all time," and that "many people are still suffering" from it." Madoff is survived by his wife, Ruth, and his grandchildren. Both his sons have died — Mark from suicide at age 46 in 2010 and Andrew from cancer at age 48 in 2014.

Prior to the reveal of his scheme, Madoff was a lauded figure on Wall Street and the head of the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities firm. In 2008, shortly after the Great Recession, his investment advisory business was exposed as a nearly $65 billion Ponzi scheme. He was arrested in December 2008 after Mark and Andrew contacted investigators following Madoff's admission to his sons that his business empire was a sham.

A reported 37,000 people in 136 countries were affected by the scheme over four decades, including charities and foundations. A court-appointed trustee has since recovered more than $13 billion of an estimated $17.5 billion that investors put into Madoff's business.

In March 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies, stating that his conduct "was wrong, indeed criminal." "When I began the Ponzi scheme I believed it would end shortly and I would be able to extricate myself and my clients from this scheme," he told the judge at his plea hearing. "However, this proved difficult, and ultimately impossible, and as the years went by I realized that my arrest and this day would eventually come."

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