Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff will go down in infamy for orchestrating the biggest Ponzi Scheme in historical past, conning traders out of $65 billion over a number of many years.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP through Getty Photographs
Madoff pleaded responsible to 11 felony charges together with securities fraud and cash laundering in 2009. He was sentenced to 150 years in jail and died 12 years into his sentence on the age of 82 in April 2021.
“He stole from the wealthy. He stole from the poor. He stole from the in-between. He had no values,” mentioned former investor Tom Fitzmaurice at Madoff’s sentencing, per AP News. “He cheated his victims out of their cash so he and his spouse … may reside a lifetime of luxurious past perception.”
Netflix is about to revisit the con that rocked the 2008 monetary disaster and unpack how Madoff used his standing as a revered cash supervisor to perpetrate the ruse in a brand new four-part docuseries “Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street” hitting the streamer on January 4.
The collection chronicles Madoff’s rise to energy and the poor oversight that allowed the rip-off to flourish. Up to now, solely $14 billion in recovered funds has been distributed to victims to date, per ABC News, and the fallout of Madoff’s fraud remains to be felt as we speak.
Here is all the pieces you must learn about Madoff and his notorious Ponzi scheme.
Who Was Bernie Madoff?
Earlier than Bernie Madoff turned a Wall Road powerhouse, the New York native got here from humble beginnings. After rising up in Queens and attending Hofstra College, he began Bernard L. Madoff Funding Securities with only a few thousand {dollars}.
The agency traded penny shares within the Nineteen Sixties till Madoff satisfied household and associates to speculate with him, utilizing an investing technique referred to as a split-strike conversion. He promised massive returns to his shoppers and he delivered, nonetheless, he was preserving all of the funds in a single Chase checking account. After many years in enterprise, he turned one in all Wall Road’s greatest and most revered gamers.
Madoff was additionally instrumental in launching the Nasdaq, the primary digital inventory alternate, within the Seventies and he even labored with the Securities and Change Fee (SEC) on the venture, per The Guardian.
He later turned chair of the Nasdaq within the Nineteen Nineties. That, coupled with massive returns on investments gave him the credibility traders wanted to belief him with their property. A few of his most notable traders included Steven Spielberg, Kevin Bacon, and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.
What Did Bernie Madoff Do?
Bernie Madoff’s official enterprise endeavors and his standing distracted from a $65 billion Ponzi Scheme that was hidden behind the scenes. A Ponzi Scheme is when traders are informed their funds could be used for funding alternatives however have been really given as compensation to earlier traders, in different phrases, Madoff was robbing Peter to pay Paul.
The darkish aspect of his enterprise was hidden on a wholly totally different flooring of his workplace that had very restricted entry, even Madoff’s sons who labored on the firm have been allegedly out of the loop.
To maintain his ruse going, he printed false month-to-month statements that confirmed regular double-digit returns.
Regardless of a number of alarms made to the SEC concerning the too-good-to-be-true nature of Madoff’s enterprise, his energy within the trade and the billions of {dollars} concerned allowed the scheme to prosper for years.
What Occurred to Bernie Madoff?
The woes of the 2008 monetary disaster left Madoff unable to proceed his Ponzi Scheme with traders who have been scrambling to assemble again their property. He knew the sport was over when he solely had $300 million left of investor cash in his account, so he got here clear to his sons, telling them the household enterprise was “all only one massive lie,” per AP Information.
His sons, Andrew and Mark Madoff, then turned him in to the FBI, and Madoff was arrested the subsequent day. He pleaded responsible to a number of counts of fraud in March 2009 and was launched on a $10 million bond. Months later he was sentenced to 150 years in jail.
After being slapped with the utmost doable sentence, U.S. District Decide Denny Chin mentioned: “Right here, the message should be despatched that Mr. Madoff’s crimes have been terribly evil and that this sort of irresponsible manipulation of the system isn’t merely a cold monetary crime that takes place simply on paper, however it’s as an alternative … one which takes a staggering human toll.”
Twelve years into Madoff’s sentence, he died behind bars attributable to “pure causes associated to his failing well being,” in response to the outlet. He was 82 years previous.
“Nobody sees this as a terrific loss,” mentioned Jerry Reisman on the time, an lawyer who represented quite a few Madoff’s victims. “Nobody goes to mourn Bernie Madoff. They’re glad they’ve survived him.”
Madoff’s son Mark died by suicide on the second anniversary of his father’s arrest in 2010, and his different son Andrew died from most cancers in 2014. His spouse, Ruth, remains to be alive as we speak.
What Was Bernie Madoff’s Web Price?
Earlier than Madoff’s empire got here crashing down, ABC News reported that Madoff and his spouse, Ruth, had a complete internet price of $823 million by the top of 2008.
In keeping with the outlet, the property consisted of $22 million price of properties in Manhattan, The Hamptons, Palm Seaside, and France, plus $17 million in money, $45 million in securities, and his funding enterprise valued at $700 million.
After Madoff was sentenced in 2009, a choose ordered him to forfeit all of his property, actual property, and investments, along with $80 million of Ruth’s private property, leaving her with $2.5 million, in response to AP News.
Bernie Madoff’s posthumous internet price is estimated to be negative $17 billion.
Supply: Entrepreneur