Non-fiction · 1970–2026

Bernard Madoff

Decades of paper trades, and the warnings nobody followed up

For decades Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities sent clients statements showing trades that never happened, paying withdrawals with new deposits. By November 2008 the statements showed about $64.8 billion. The SEC received complaints from 1992 onward, including Harry Markopolos's repeated submissions from 2000, and examined or investigated the firm several times without checking its trades with an outside party. Madoff confessed to his sons on December 10, 2008, was arrested the next day, pleaded guilty in March 2009 and was sentenced to 150 years. His auditor, his brother, his finance lieutenant and five other employees were convicted or pleaded guilty; JPMorgan Chase admitted Bank Secrecy Act failures. The court-appointed trustee has since recovered more than $15 billion.