Bernard Madoff exits the Manhattan federal court house in New York, U.S. on Jan. 14, 2009. Madoff pleaded guilty in that March to fraud, money laundering, perjury and theft and was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Photo by Reuters/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
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Bernard Madoff, the Manhattan investment adviser who promised stellar returns to his A-list clients and instead defrauded them of more than US$19 billion in history’s largest Ponzi scheme, has died. He was 82.
His death, “believed to be from natural causes,” was reported by the Associated Press. Madoff’s home since July 2009 was the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina, where he was serving a 150-year term. He requested compassionate early release, citing end-stage kidney disease, in February 2020.
Bernard Madoff, the Manhattan investment adviser who promised stellar returns to his A-list clients and instead defrauded them of more than $19 billion in history’s largest Ponzi scheme, has died. He was 82.
His death was confirmed by the New York law firm of Brandon Sample, Madoff’s attorney. Madoff’s home since July 2009 was the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina, where he was serving a 150-year term. He requested compassionate early release, citing end-stage kidney disease, in February 2020.
Like Charles Ponzi, whose 1920 con earned him a place in the annals of crime, Madoff seemed to deliver stunning returns to his clients, when in fact he was paying existing investors with money from new ones.
Bernard Madoff, Architect of Largest Ponzi Scheme in History, Is Dead at 82
His enormous fraud left behind a devastating human toll and paper losses totaling $64.8 billion.
Bernie Madoff leaving a Manhattan court in January 2009. The victims of his fraud numbered in the thousands and were scattered from Palm Beach to the Persian Gulf.Credit.Hiroko Masuike/Getty Images
April 14, 2021Updated 11:27 a.m. ET
Bernard L. Madoff, the one-time senior statesman of Wall Street who in 2008 became the human face of an era of financial misdeeds and missteps for running the largest and possibly most devastating Ponzi scheme in financial history, died on Wednesday at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, N.C. He was 82.