Bernard Madoff, mastermind of the biggest investment fraud in U.S. history, ripping off tens of thousands of clients of as much as $65 billion, died Wednesday. He was 82.
His death at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, was confirmed by the federal Bureau of Prisons.
Madoff died apparently from natural causes, the AP reported earlier, citing an unidentified person familiar with the matter. He would have turned 83 on April 29.
Madoff was serving a 150-year sentence at the prison, where he had been treated for what his attorney called terminal kidney disease. His request for compassionate release from prison was denied in June.
He pleaded guilty in 2009 to a scheme that investigators said started in the early 1970s
and defrauded more than 40,000 people in 125 countries over four
decades by the time Madoff was busted on Dec. 11, 2008 — after his two sons turned him in.
Victims included the famous — director Steven Spielberg, actor Kevin
Bacon, former New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon, Hall of Fame pitcher
Sandy Koufax and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Weisel — and ordinary
investors, like Burt Ross, who lost $5 million in the scheme.
10 comments:
"...the biggest investment fraud in U.S. history..."
Really? How about Social Security scheduled to go broke in a few years? Throw in Medicare too.
Now THESE are real Ponzi schemes.
Well more taxpayer's dollars saved. Now we can lock up another criminal instead. I suggest Cuomo or mayor dumbdumb to take his place in prison...it will get one of them atleast away from New York.
How about Social Security scheduled to go broke in a few years? Throw in Medicare too.
BUT the biggest investment fraud in U.S. history - goes to income tax.
I saw him last week in the Bahamas with Elvis having a MiTie
It has been said that the flesh trade is the oldest profession. But, it's not EVEN close to the REAL deadbeat crime against humanity: The PERPETUAL TAX FRAUD:
So, let me get this straight:
I'm paying taxes on my wages, then paying sales tax to spend my own money, then paying income tax on money that was already taxed. Then, when I eventually cross over to 'Glory,' my children will be burdened with paying the death tax, ironically on ALL of MY money that was already taxed!
Now, if THAT isn't THE most diabolical, voracious, predatory and rapacious scam that has continually (and continuously) perpetuated millions of hardworking families throughout centuries of stolen wealth (that determines WORTH), then I don't know what is!
❝Keep people as slaves and pets LONG enough——and, eventually they will see their kidnappers as saviors.❞ ——Anonymous
❝Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It's seeing through the facade of pretense. It's the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.❞ —―Adyashanti
❝The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.❞ ——George Orwell
❝The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.❞ ——George Orwell
❝This planet is obviously being used as an insane asylum by other planets.❞ ——George Bernard Shaw
It has been said that the flesh trade is the oldest profession. But, it's not EVEN close to the REAL deadbeat crime against humanity: The PERPETUAL TAX FRAUD:
So, let me get this straight:
I'm paying taxes on my wages, then paying sales tax to spend my own money, then paying income tax on money that was already taxed. Then, when I eventually cross over to 'Glory,' my children will be burdened with paying the death tax, ironically on ALL of MY money that was already taxed!
Now, if THAT isn't THE most diabolical, voracious, predatory and rapacious scam that has continually (and continuously) perpetuated millions of hardworking families throughout centuries of stolen wealth (that determines WORTH), then I don't know what is!
❝Keep people as slaves and pets LONG enough——and, eventually they will see their kidnappers as saviors.❞ ——Anonymous
❝Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It's seeing through the facade of pretense. It's the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.❞ —―Adyashanti
❝The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.❞ ——George Orwell
❝The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.❞ ——George Orwell
❝This planet is obviously being used as an insane asylum by other planets.❞ ——George Bernard Shaw
I have limited sympathy for those taken by this bastard.
The price of admission was $250,000 minimum.
He 'promised" around 12%/annual gain. NO reputable fund offered anywhere near that.
There were rumors about this character for years before the story finally broke.
I made a goodly sum investing in the 1990's. AOL, JDS-Uniphase and RCN. When I cashed out in 1999 I asked about the various funds, including that one. My tax lawyer warned me off saying this was "suspicious" and likely to blow up.
My point here, when you have made substantial assets you seek reputable advice, preferably from several sources.
The people who got taken let their greed overcome everything.
BTW: the real losses were around 18bn of which about 14bn has been recovered and returned to those "fine, upstanding citizens".
Rob in Manhattan
Rob, May we kindly ask why'd you cash out in 1999?
"I have limited sympathy for those taken by this bastard"
Thanks for letting us know that.
I'm with you, Rob. Every single investor who was wowed by Bernie Madoff laughably believed that they would be getting a 'Sweetheart Deal,' and why that would be goes to the vainglorious and egomaniacal personality deficiencies of this entitled lot of vastly overpaid Hollywod 'A-listers,' all of whom were attracted to Madoff's hubris.
Kevin Bacon, Mets owner Fred Wilpon, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, John Malcovich, Larry King, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Elie Wiesel and too many others to name took zero time for due diligence to prevail, and they were apparently so excited to be one of Bernie's exclusive circle of 'Members Only' clients that not a single one bothered to ask for something as fundamentally simple as his trading receipts from his purported transactions with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (that was my first red flag, when a medium sized brokerage firm that was selectively recruiting for Madoff asked me if I was interested in 'getting in' on the ground floor with the 'opportunity of a lifetime'). That was in 2002, and I politely declined shortly after my legitimate questions didn't get a plausible reply, if at all.
Therefore, I agree with Rob because I have zero sympathy for the greedy monied classes, especially when they were already exalted and flush with liquidation in the first place. Greed is a mental illness for which there is no cure. However, I seriously doubt that Madoff's Ponzi scheme will be the last of its kind when there are so many eager investors waiting in line to be duped by the next offer that is simply too good to pass up.
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