The death of Bernard Modoff, from a self-made financier to a planetary deceiver

Bernie Madoff, the author of the largest financial fraud in history, was sentenced on April 14 to 150 years in prison at the Patna Federal Penitentiary (North Carolina). After pleading guilty in 2009. With kidneys, he asked for his early release on medical grounds in 2020, which was denied in June.

His name will forever be associated with the largest “Ponzi scheme” in planned history. The fraud is to pay investors by paying deposits from new customers and robbing them of the remaining capital. A scam that has been going on for decades, for huge sums. The amount claimed by investors who took legal action after the outbreak of corruption reached $ 17 billion (14 14 billion). The losses, including the profits Bernard Madoff said, would be $ 65 billion.

All nicknamed “Bernie” was born on April 29, 1938, in a middle-class Jewish family in Queens County, New York. After his father’s sporting goods business went bankrupt, he supported himself by installing sprinkler systems during his studies, and later, after dropping the law, became a lifeguard on the beaches of Long Island.

Picture de Wall Street

With his savings, he founded a small brokerage firm in 1960 called Modoff Securities. The self-created man is a pioneer, he computerizes his business, while transactions are made over the phone. His career is thriving. He becomes one of the first “market makers” of Nasdaq, one of the price creators who provide continuous quotes. His exceptional knowledge of financial mechanisms led him to a chair in the tech stock market in 1990 for more than 50 years.

As a person on Wall Street, Bernard Madoff has been developing his wealth management activity on a large scale. An increasing number of institutional investors and high net worth individuals are handing it billions of dollars in management, which is inspired by the promise of exceptional and stable returns. “Bernie” guarantees a systemically higher interest rate of 3% to 4% than realized by other managers.

To feed his finances, he invites Dowd to recruit clients from the highest country clubs. Victims include a few celebrities such as actors Kevin Bacon and John Malkovich, or a non-profit organization co-founded by film director Steven Spielberg.

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