Bernie Madoff, the architect of one of the greatest scams in history, died in prison. The American media reported it, according to which Madoff, 82, died of natural causes.
Madoff was serving a 150-year sentence at Butner Federal Prison, North Carolina. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to a fraud affecting up to 37,000 people in 136 countries over four decades, until the end of 2008. Among his victims, also famous people such as the director Steven Spielberg, the actor Kevin Bacon and the Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Weisel.
Madoff, the “evil genius” who shook global finance. So he enticed Scrooge and Wall Street big names
by our correspondent Federico Rampini
Madoff’s scam would have yielded up to $ 65 billion. In February last year, he had submitted a request for release from prison for health reasons: according to the documents presented at the time, he would have been less than 18 months old due to a severe kidney disease, entered its final phase, and the impossibility of undergoing a transplant due to its advanced age and precarious health conditions.
His request was denied, however, because “Madoff committed one of the greatest financial crimes of all time” and “many people are still suffering”. At least four people close to Madoff committed suicide after the scandal, including his son Mark who took his own life on the second anniversary of his father’s arrest. Madoff’s other son Andrew died of cancer in 2014.
The financier collaborated with investigators to recover as much money as possible, in order to compensate the cheated investors About 14.3 billion has been recovered, and at least 12.9 billion has been distributed among investors, according to what he reported in an interview with the Washington Post last year.
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