Bernie Madoff, the architect of one of the largest financial frauds in American history, has died at the age of 82.
Madoff, who was president of the Nasdaq Stock Market and was on Wall Street for decades, shocked the world in December 2008 when he confessed that his investment business was a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. He pleaded guilty in March 2009 and was sentenced to the longest sentence allowed.
The size and duration of his fraud were elusive. Initial reports indicated that $ 65 billion had been written off to Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities.
But it soon became clear that the assets Madoff was proud to manage only existed on paper. He had not invested customers ’money, but mixed billions of dollars through his company’s bank account and fabricated statements that showed profits year after year. Ultimately, a court-appointed administrator estimated that Mr. Madoff got $ 17 billion in money from customers through the plan.
A statement from the Prisons Office Wednesday said Mr. Madoff died at Butner Federal Medical Center, North Carolina. Mr. Madoff’s death came about a year after his lawyer asked a federal court to release him from prison while he was battling a terminal illness.