The fund distributing compensation to victims of Bernie Madoff’s infamous Ponzi scheme launched its 10th and final distribution on Monday (December 30), delivering an additional $131 million to defrauded investors.
A total of 23,000 victims across the globe are receiving payments, bringing their overall recovery to 94% of the losses incurred. The majority of these victims were smaller investors, each losing less than $500,000, as reported by federal prosecutors.
Since the collapse of Madoff’s investment firm and his 2009 guilty plea in March, the Madoff Victim Fund has disbursed over $4 billion to nearly 41,000 victims across 127 countries.
“Today’s distribution represents an unprecedented conclusion of victim compensation from civil forfeiture actions related to the Madoff scheme,” said James Dennehy, FBI New York Field Office assistant director in charge.
“These victims implicitly trusted Madoff with their investments only to ultimately lose significant monies to his selfish plan,” Dennehy said.
Decades-Long Scheme Deceived Thousands Worldwide
Madoff, the former head of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities in New York, was sentenced to 150 years in prison for the scheme, which lasted four decades and involved using money from new investors to pay returns to earlier ones, rather than generating profits through legitimate trading as he had claimed.
Madoff orchestrated one of the largest Ponzi schemes in U.S. financial history. Madoff, the former head of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities in New York, was sentenced to 150 years in prison for the scheme, which lasted four decades and involved using money from new investors to pay returns to earlier ones, rather than generating profits through legitimate trading as he had claimed. He died in prison at the age of 82 in 2021.
For decades, Madoff exploited the investment advisory business he founded in 1960 to steal billions from his clients, transforming his wealth management firm into the world’s largest Ponzi scheme. This operation primarily benefited Madoff, his family, and select members of his inner circle.
