Bernie Madoff, the biggest con artist in Wall Street history, has died

NEW YORK.- Bernie madoff, creator of one of the largest pyramid schemes in the capital market, He died this Wednesday at the age of 82 in a US federal prison, published the agency AP. According to sources consulted by the agency, he died of natural causes.

The former investor was serving a 150-year prison sentence for building a $ 65 billion financial pyramid. He was detained for 12 years.

Madoff died at Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, apparently of natural causes, said a source, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Last year, Madoff’s lawyers filed court documents in an attempt to get the 82-year-old out of jail amid the coronavirus pandemic, noting that he had suffered from end-stage kidney disease and other chronic health problems. The request was denied.

Madoff admitted to swindling thousands of clients out of billions of dollars in investments over decades.

A court-appointed trustee has recouped more than $ 13 billion of the roughly $ 17.5 billion invested by investors in Madoff’s business.. At the time of their arrest, the fake account statements told clients they had $ 60 billion in assets.

His financial victims ranged from names like Steven Spielberg, actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, New York Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz and the heredera by L’Oreal Liliane Bettencourt even small investors who have invested their pensions and savings.

“Due to the duration of the scam, it was completely devastating for many victims,” ​​said Matthew L. Schwartz, former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York who led the Bernard investigation. L. Madoff Investment Securities.

“There were so many people who effectively treated it like a bank and kept their savings, so when it was revealed that this was all a sham people couldn’t live their lives anymore,” Schwartz said. “They couldn’t afford the school fees. They couldn’t pay their mortgages, ”he recalls.

Like all Ponzi schemes, Madoff used new investor money to pay off older ones, with some being taken off the top to maintain his own lavish lifestyle. The scheme could have gone on almost indefinitely in theory, as long as enough new investors went through middlemen and small businesses also blinded by the reputation of the Madoff company.

But its investment advisory business was exposed in 2008 in the form of a multi-billion dollar pyramid scheme who wiped out people’s fortunes and ruined charities and foundations. He became so hated that he had to wear a bulletproof vest in court.

Madoff pleaded guilty in March 2009 to securities fraud and other charges., when he said he was “Deeply regretted and ashamed.”

After living for several months under house arrest in his $ 7 million Manhattan apartment, he was taken to jail in handcuffs.

“He robbed the rich. He robbed the poor. He flew in the middle. I didn’t have any securities, ”former investor Tom Fitzmaurice told the judge during sentencing. “He cheated his victims with his money so that he and his wife could live a life of incredible luxury.”

United States District Judge Denny chin showed no mercy and sentenced Madoff to a maximum of 150 years in prison.

Madoff’s two sons are deceased: Andrew, of cancer at 48, and Mark by suicide at 46 in 2010. Madoff’s wife, Ruth, is still alive.

AP Agency

THE NATION