Life Savings
But the scale of Madoff’s crimes always made compassion a long shot. Investors lost more than $19 billion in principal when his firm ran out of money in December 2008, unable to raise enough cash from new investors to meet withdrawal demands. Madoff’s victims included thousands of wealthy investors, Jewish charities, celebrities and retirees, many of whom lost their life savings. A trustee appointed to recover money for Madoff’s victims says they’ve been repaid some $12.9 billion, as of January.
“While I would never wish dying in jail on anyone, it is hard to imagine a less sympathetic non-violent offender than Bernard Madoff,” Matthew Schwartz, a former federal prosecutor on the case, said at the time Madoff made his request. “His tens of thousands of victims still continue to feel the profound and devastating harm from his decades-long fraud to this day.”
The case is U.S. v. Madoff, 09-cr-00213, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.