Bernie Madoff, author of the biggest financial scam in history, died on April 14, at the age of 82 in Butner Federal Penitentiary (North Carolina) where he was serving a 150-year prison sentence. after having pleaded guilty in 2009. Seriously ill with kidneys, in 2020 he asked for his early release for medical reasons, which he had been refused in June.
His name will forever be associated with the largest “Ponzi scheme” in history ever orchestrated. This fraud consisted of remunerating investors by siphoning deposits from new clients, and looting the rest of the capital. A scam carried out for several decades, for colossal amounts. The sums claimed by investors who took legal action after the outbreak of the scandal reached more than 17 billion dollars (14 billion euros). Including the profits touted by Bernard Madoff, the losses would amount to $ 65 billion.
The one everyone nicknamed “Bernie” was born on April 29, 1938 in the Queens neighborhood of New York, into a middle-class Jewish family. After his father’s sporting goods business went bankrupt, he supported himself during his studies by installing sprinkler systems, then, after dropping out of law, became a lifeguard on the beaches of Long Island. .
Wall Street figure
With his savings, in 1960 he founded a small brokerage firm, Madoff Securities. The self-made man is a pioneer, he computerizes his business while transactions are still carried out by telephone. His business is prospering. He becomes one of the very first “market makers” on the Nasdaq, one of those who provide continuous quotes and make prices. His exceptional knowledge of financial mechanisms led him in 1990 to chair, at a little over 50 years old, this technological stock exchange.
Become a figure of Wall Street, Bernard Madoff is developing his wealth management activity on a large scale. A growing number of institutional investors and high net worth individuals entrust it with billions of dollars in management, seduced by the promise of exceptional and stable returns. “Bernie” guarantees them a systematically higher interest of 3% to 4% than that realized by other managers.
To feed his fund, he calls on touts, who recruit clients from the most upscale Country Clubs. Among the victims are a few celebrities, such as actors Kevin Bacon and John Malkovich, or the non-profit organization co-founded by film director Steven Spielberg.
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