Bernie Madoff: Disgraced financier dies in prison

DISGRACED Wall Street financier Bernie Madoff, who was convicted for conning investors out of tens of billions of dollars, has died in prison at age 82.

The death was announced by the US Bureau of Prisons.

Mr Madoff had been serving a 150-year sentence after he admitted in 2009 that he had defrauded investors through a Ponzi scheme, which paid out using their money rather than any profits.

It collapsed during the financial crisis of 2008.

Exceptional returns

Mr Madoff set up his eponymous firm Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities in 1960.

The company became one of the largest market-makers – matching buyers and sellers of stocks – and Mr Madoff served as chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange.

The firm was investigated eight times by the US Securities and Exchange Commission because it made exceptional returns.

But it was the global recession which effectively prompted Mr Madoff’s demise as investors, hit by the downturn, tried to withdraw about $7bn from his funds and he could not find the money to cover it.

He confessed the problem to his sons, who went to the authorities.

The list of those scammed included film director Steven Spielberg’s charitable foundation, Wunderkinder.

UK banks were also among those who lost money, with HSBC Holdings saying it had exposure of around $1bn. Other corporate victims were Royal Bank of Scotland and Man Group and Japan’s Nomura Holdings.

It was not just the elite and large firms who were victims of the fraud.

School teachers, farmers, mechanics and many others also lost money.

“We thought he was God. We trusted everything in his hands,” Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, whose foundation lost $15.2 million, said in 2009.

In court, Mr Madoff said when he started the scheme in the 1990s, he hoped it would only be for a limited time.

“I cannot adequately express how sorry I am for what I have done,” Mr Madoff said in March 2009, when he pleaded guilty.

“I realised that my arrest and this day would inevitably come.”

An estimated $65bn was tied up in the scam. Only a fraction has ever been recovered.

Last year, Mr Madoff requested early release from prison citing health problems, including kidney disease. In an interview with The Washington Post he said he had “made a terrible mistake.”

“I’m terminally ill,” he said. “There’s no cure for my type of disease. So, you know, I’ve served. I’ve served 11 years already, and, quite frankly, I’ve suffered through it.”

Judge Denny Chin denied Mr Madoff’s request, noting many victims were still suffering due to their financial losses.

“I also believe that Mr. Madoff was never truly remorseful, and that he was only sorry that his life as he knew it was collapsing around him,” he wrote.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56750103