^ Not just any Ponzu scheme, but the largest financial fraud in history over 20 Billion dollars was stolen mainly from widows and orphans what a terrible sample of humanity he was.
Proabably one of the wildest things I read about one of his victims... There was this "kid" who worked for a brokerage in the same building but not for Bernie. This kid begged and begged to let him invest some money and they always would blow him off. Finally they let him invest some money. A few years later this guy has a portfolio full of money, retires before he's even 30, moves to North Carolina and is able to live a modest lifestyle off the interest alone. After the scheme is exposed and the feds come looking for the money, they took all the money from this guy (a few million dollars) and demanded that he pay back what he had already spent, and pay interest as well. Even with a good paying job there was no way he could pay back in full what the government demanded.
His two kids died in early 2010's (one suicide and one cancer he claimed that came out of remission during the stress of the fraud). So he killed his kids too. Pretty nice guy.
Georgmicro - I remember reading a lot of the wealthy guys (you know the millionaires and billionaires) got a lot of their money back, those who put the most $$$ in were first to get it back.
It was the average Joe’s who entrusted their pension money to an investor who pooled all his/her clients small amounts together to make enough of an investment to be let in the door to Maddoffs company were the ones who didn’t get anything back. Also a lot of these people were very modest investors from other counties, they seemed to be the first to get screwed and probably the people that needed it most and deserved it most. A guy whose investor dropped his pension and and watched it disappear needs it a lot more than some billionaire who could take that 200 million they lost and use it as a tax write off almost as effectively as getting the money back.
@shailynn @George microdong
According to wikipedia most of the investors got back their original investments but many lost time and the value of time cannot be recovered, here is the report from the southern district of NY detailing the recovery up to about the end of 2018 madofftrustee.com
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last commentAgreed. Many folks died penniless because of his Ponzi scheme.
It still boggles my mind how someone could do such a thing and seemingly have no empathy for those he left penniless.
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decent movie about his life, Robert DeNiro played Bernie
imdb.com
Leaves out a lot of details but you'll get the picture.
Good podcast - one of the only interviews (maybe THE only interview) he gave from prison.
podcasts.apple.com
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^ Not just any Ponzu scheme, but the largest financial fraud in history over 20 Billion dollars was stolen mainly from widows and orphans what a terrible sample of humanity he was.
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Proabably one of the wildest things I read about one of his victims... There was this "kid" who worked for a brokerage in the same building but not for Bernie. This kid begged and begged to let him invest some money and they always would blow him off. Finally they let him invest some money. A few years later this guy has a portfolio full of money, retires before he's even 30, moves to North Carolina and is able to live a modest lifestyle off the interest alone. After the scheme is exposed and the feds come looking for the money, they took all the money from this guy (a few million dollars) and demanded that he pay back what he had already spent, and pay interest as well. Even with a good paying job there was no way he could pay back in full what the government demanded.
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I saw the two words, BERNIE and DEAD and hoped it was the other one. 😉😏😳
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His two kids died in early 2010's (one suicide and one cancer he claimed that came out of remission during the stress of the fraud). So he killed his kids too. Pretty nice guy.
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Rot in Hell
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It's the world's smallest violin playing "You're Breaking My Heart."
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Did anybody swindled by him see any recompense out of all the government took from him? Or did it all stay in politicians' pockets?
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Yeah it cost him a lot - he lost both his kids, he spent his remaining years in prison, and his wife likely became a pariah - he was 82.
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Georgmicro - I remember reading a lot of the wealthy guys (you know the millionaires and billionaires) got a lot of their money back, those who put the most $$$ in were first to get it back.
It was the average Joe’s who entrusted their pension money to an investor who pooled all his/her clients small amounts together to make enough of an investment to be let in the door to Maddoffs company were the ones who didn’t get anything back. Also a lot of these people were very modest investors from other counties, they seemed to be the first to get screwed and probably the people that needed it most and deserved it most. A guy whose investor dropped his pension and and watched it disappear needs it a lot more than some billionaire who could take that 200 million they lost and use it as a tax write off almost as effectively as getting the money back.
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@shailynn @George microdong
According to wikipedia most of the investors got back their original investments but many lost time and the value of time cannot be recovered, here is the report from the southern district of NY detailing the recovery up to about the end of 2018
madofftrustee.com
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