/PRNewswire/ Irving H. Picard, Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA) Trustee for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS),.
âAn Evil Man Diedâ: Victimsâ Animosity Toward Madoff Outlives Him
For many of the victims of Bernard L. Madoffâs massive Ponzi scheme, his death on Wednesday did not assuage their bitterness.
Burt Ross, left, a victim of Bernie Madoff, spoke outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan where Mr. Madoff was sentenced in 2009. Mr. Ross said he lost millions in Mr. Madoffâs scheme.Credit.James Estrin/The New York Times
April 14, 2021Updated 8:44 p.m. ET
There were no obvious public signs that Bernard L. Madoff, who died Wednesday at the age of 82, would eventually become infamous for running the largest Ponzi scheme in financial history.
For years, Bernie Madoff was regarded as an investment sage.
Bernard L. Madoff, who died April 14 at 82, was the mastermind of perhaps the largest Ponzi scheme in history, a reviled symbol of Wall Street greed and, once, one of the most sought-after stockbrokers in high finance.
For years, Bernie Madoff was regarded as an investment sage. He had clients, homes and boats strewn about exclusive enclaves around the world. Leveraging the clout he had amassed as a legitimate trader, he lured - and eventually fleeced - thousands of investors who entrusted to him their retirement savings, their children s college funds and their financial security.
An evil man died : Victims animosity toward Bernie Madoff outlives him
15 Apr, 2021 06:00 AM
5 minutes to read
Bernard Madoff exits Manhattan federal court in March 2009. Photo / AP
New York Times
By: Jonah E. Bromwich and Benjamin Weiser
For many of the victims of Bernard L. Madoff s massive Ponzi scheme, his death did not assuage their bitterness. There were no obvious public signs that Bernard L. Madoff, who died Wednesday at age 82, would eventually become infamous for running the largest Ponzi scheme in financial history.
From his congressional testimony after the 1987 stock market crash to the regular round tables he participated in at the Securities and Exchange Commission, his image in the public eye was that of a masterful, innovative and eminently dependable financier.
His death at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, was confirmed by the federal Bureau of Prisons.
Madoff died apparently from natural causes, the AP reported earlier, citing an unidentified person familiar with the matter. He would have turned 83 on April 29.
Madoff was serving a 150-year sentence at the prison, where he had been treated for what his attorney called terminal kidney disease. His request for compassionate release from prison was denied in June.
He pleaded guilty in 2009 to a scheme that investigators said started in the early 1970s and defrauded as many as 37,000 people in 136 countries over four decades by the time Madoff was busted on Dec. 11, 2008 after his two sons turned him in. Victims included the famous director Steven Spielberg, actor Kevin Bacon, former New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon, Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Weisel and ordinary investors, like Burt Ross, who lost $5 million in the schem