“To all the scammers, he is like the Godfather, the Don”, Said an inmate from Butner Prison in North Carolina in 2009 in reference to the New York financier millionaire Bernard Madoff, who at that time was serving his first year in prison.
The case shocked the United States. Madoff, who was one of the most reputed financial advisors in his country, was arrested by the FBI in December 2008 in his apartment located in an exclusive area of Manhattan. The authorities accused him of pyramid fraud after it was discovered that he had perpetrated the biggest scam in the country’s history.
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He was sentenced to 150 years in prison for several criminal charges, including securities fraud, money laundering and perjury, due to fraud that reached up to US $ 65,000 million worldwide. His investment firm, which he founded in 1960, operated under a pyramid system.
The name of Madoff, who is still serving his sentence, returned to the news on Thursday. The 81-year-old former financier says he suffers a terminal illness and wants to be allowed to leave prison early.
His lawyers claim that Madoff He has “less than 18 months to live” because he suffers from end-stage renal disease, in addition to other health problems such as hypertension and heart difficulties.
Madoff, who had to give up all his fortune when he pleaded guilty to putting together the largest financial pyramid in the history of Wall Street, justified the success of his enormous fraud in that the regulatory bodies “were not attentive” to what he had been doing.
To keep your family members out of the process, Madoff He revealed to his victims’ lawyers how he committed the fraud.
“The details were extraordinary. I was surprised how frank and open it has been”, Said lawyer Joseph Cotchett in 2009, the“ New York Post ”reported.
The former financier also revealed that everything began in the mid-1990s and that he felt many regrets, so he repeatedly apologized for the damage he caused.
More than 15 thousand people claimed to have been scammed by Madoff.
“I have left a legacy of shame to my family and my grandchildren. It’s something I will live with for the rest of my life. I’m sorry”Said Madoff during his trial.
Sum of tragedies
When the fraud was discovered, Bernard spent three months under house arrest with his wife Ruth, in his lavish penthouse in front of Central Park, while his two sons broke up his relationship with him.
In an interview in 2011, the financier’s wife said that he and she both attempted suicide when the fraud plot he led was discovered Madoff.
Ruth Madoff announced in 2011 that she had cut off any relationship with the former financier, while her two children died while he was in jail.
Mark Madoff, who handed his father to the authorities, committed suicide in 2010, two years after his father’s arrest. The young man denied at all times knowing his father’s scam, even though he was one of his employees. He was also denied by his brother Andrew, who died of cancer in 2014.
“I’m responsible for Mark’s death and that’s very, very difficult […] I live with that. I live with regret, the pain that I have caused to everyone, of course to my family, and to the victims, ”he confessed Madoff from prison in an interview with CNN in 2013.
Several of the clients of Madoff They also had a tragic end.
Just a week and a half after uncovering the scam in December 2008, French aristocrat Thierry de Villehuchet committed suicide by cutting his veins in his New York office. The businessman and founder of the Access International (AIA) manager believed in the promises of great returns from Madoff and he entrusted much of his wallet. He lost between 1,500 million and 2,000 million dollars with the scam.
War veteran William Foxton also committed suicide. The framework of Madoff this 65-year-old Englishman was lost the savings of his entire family. He died in February 2009.
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