Bernie Madoff, the financier who orchestrated what is thought to be the largest Ponzi scheme in history, has died. He was 82.
He died Wednesday at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, N.C., the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed, and had been serving out a 150-year sentence.
As a money manager, Madoff defrauded thousands of investors out of tens of billions of dollars over the course of nearly two decades. His scheme wiped out the savings of individuals, charities, municipal governments and college endowment funds, and he was so hated at the time of his 2009 trial that he wore a bulletproof vest to and from the courthouse.
But long before his name became synonymous with deceit, it had been held in high regard on Wall Street.
His brokerage, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, consistently boasted impressive returns, and his clients — many within the Jewish community — included celebrities and wealthy philanthropists as well as ordinary people.
Before the scheme came to light, Madoff’s credibility was bolstered by his lavish lifestyle, which featured a yacht and properties in Palm Beach, the Hamptons and the south of France. The former NASDAQ chairman portrayed himself not just as a great investor, but a morally upstanding one.