A Ponzi scheme is fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investor rather than from any actual profit earned.
Bernard Lawrence “Bernie” Madoff (born April 29, 1938) is an American businessman and former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange who was convicted of operating a Ponzi scheme that has been called the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person. On March 12, 2009, Madoff pled guilty to an 11-count criminal complaint, admitting to defrauding thousands of investors. Federal prosecutors estimated client losses, which included fabricated gains, of almost $65 billion. He had been confined to his Manhattan penthouse apartment during the investigation, and was subsequently incarcerated after his guilty plea. There was no plea deal with prosecutors. He faces spending the rest of his in prison, and up to $170 billion in restitution.
Madoff founded that Wall Street firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in 1960, and was its chairman until his arrest on December 11, 2008. The firm was one of the top market maker businesses on Wall Street, ( the sixth-largest in 2008), which bypassed “specialist” firms, by directly executing orders over the counter from retail brokers. The firm also had an investment management and advisory division that was the focus of the fraud investigation.
According to the original federal complaint, Madoff claimed his firm had
“liabilities of approximately US$50 billion.” Prosecutors increased their estimate of the size of the fraud from $50 billion to $64.8 billion, based on the amounts in the accounts of Madoff’s 4,800 clients on November 30, 2008. It is claimed that he confessed to his sons first on December 10, 2008 that the asset management arm of his firm was a giant Ponzi scheme--- as he put it, “one big lie.” They then passed his information to authorities. The following day, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested Madoff and charged him with one count of securities fraud. Five days after his arrest, Madoff’s assets and those of the firm were frozen, and a receiver was appointed to handle the case. The SEC conducted several investigations into Madoff’s business practices since 1999, which critics contend were incompetently handled.
Madoff was a prolific philanthropist. He and his wife gave campaign contributions mostly to the Democratic Party, but also to the Republican Party.
