Chennai: Bernard Madoff, who was convicted for running the largest known Ponzi scheme in history, died in federal prison where he was serving a 150-year sentence, the Bureau of Prisons said. He was 82.
Madoff died at the Federal Medical Centre in Butner, North Carolina, apparently from natural causes, the person said. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.
Last year, Madoff’s lawyers filed court papers to try to get him released from prison in the coronavirus pandemic, saying he had suffered from end-stage renal disease and other chronic medical conditions. The request was denied.
For years, ‘Bernie’ Madoff was regarded as an investment sage. He had clients, homes and boats strewn about exclusive enclaves around the world. Leveraging the clout he had amassed as a legitimate trader, he lured – and eventually fleeced – thousands of investors who entrusted to him their retirement savings, their children’s college funds and their financial security.
His clients included Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, filmmaker Steven Spielberg, actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., and scores of retirees and other private individuals. Banks, hedge funds, universities and charities came to rely on his improbably reliable reported returns.