Bernie Madoff

Bernie Madoff Bernard Madoff operated the largest Ponzi scheme in recorded history, defrauding thousands of investors of an estimated $65 billion in nominal value over several decades through his investment advisory business, which fabricated trading records while using new client funds to pay returns to existing clients. He was arrested in December 2008 after confessing to his sons, who reported him to federal authorities, and pleaded guilty in 2009 to 11 federal felonies. He was sentenced to 150 years in federal prison and died at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, in April 2021.