“t offer an excuse. Turning to his victims he said”
- #wikipedia
- #quote
- #trusted-source
- #bbc.co.uk
- #corroborated
Figure timeline
Bernard Madoff
Bernard Lawrence Madoff was an American financier, con artist, and stock broker who was the admitted mastermind of the largest-known Ponzi scheme in history, worth an estimated $65 billion. He was at one time chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange. Madoff's firm had two basic units: a stock brokerage and an asset management business; the Ponzi scheme was centered in the asset management business.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
business · American financier and con artist (1938–2021) · stockbroker · financier · economist · banker · broker · also Bernard Madoff, Bernie Madoff, Bernard L. Madoff, Bernard Lawrence Madoff, Madoff
Born 29 April 1938 · Died 14 April 2021 · Q14043
68 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
1 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Quote
- Quote
2026· 2 entries
“he had recently made profits through business operations, and that now was a good time to distribute it.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
2024· 2 entries
The Guardian: Bernie Madoff compensation fund makes final payments
- #news
- #headline
USA Today rated the claim “Post implies corruption caused gap from Trump's $454M bond to Madoff's $10M” Missing Context.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
- #fact-check
- #rated
- #claim-about-figure
2022· 2 entries
The Guardian: Fraud, cons and Ponzi schemes: did Sam Bankman-Fried use Madoff tactics?
- #news
- #headline
Madoff's sister, Sondra Weiner, and her husband, Marvin, were both found dead with gunshot wounds in their Boynton Beach, Florida home
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2021· 4 entries
The Guardian: Bernie Madoff obituary
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: Bernie Madoff, financier behind largest Ponzi scheme in history, dies in prison
- #news
- #headline
Died at the Federal Medical Center, Butner, in North Carolina, from chronic kidney disease
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Died 2021-04-14.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
2020· 5 entries
Snopes rated the claim “U.S. President Donald Trump commuted Bernie Madoff’s prison sentence of 150 years.” False.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
- #fact-check
- #rated
- #claim-about-figure
The Guardian: Bernie Madoff fails in bid for compassionate release from prison
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: Michael Cohen and Bernie Madoff seek early prison release amid coronavirus
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: Bernie Madoff says he is dying of kidney failure and seeks early prison release
- #news
- #headline
In a court filing from his lawyer in February 2020, it was revealed Madoff had chronic kidney failure.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #life
- #personal-life
2019· 1 entry
Madoff asked Donald Trump for a reduced sentence or pardon, to which the White House and Donald Trump made no comment
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2018· 1 entry
The Guardian: Bernie Madoff scam victims receive $695m from compensation fund
- #news
- #headline
2017· 5 entries
The Guardian: Bernie Madoff photos offer rare glimpse of convicted fraudster in prison
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: The Wizard of Lies review – Robert De Niro's Bernie Madoff drama is a cheat
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: The Wizard of Lies trailer: see Robert de Niro in HBO’s Bernard Madoff drama – video
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: Never-before-heard Bernie Madoff tapes reveal details of ruinous Ponzi scheme
- #news
- #headline
By Atria Books, was a fictionalized account of the Madoff Ponzi scheme from the wife's point of view
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2013· 2 entries
Madoff had a heart attack in December 2013, and reportedly had end-stage renal disease (ESRD).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #life
- #personal-life
By Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, loses her divorce settlement by investing it with Bernie Madoff
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2012· 2 entries
By HarperCollins, was set in motion by the suicide of the Bernie Madoff-like Ponzi schemer Abe Cushman
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
By Pamela Dorman Books, features a wealthy family with a Madoff-like patriarch
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2011· 1 entry
By Back Bay Books, was the wife of a Madoff-like schemer
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2010· 1 entry
Exactly two years after his father's arrest, Peter was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2012, and Andrew died of lymphoma on September 3, 2014
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2009· 18 entries
Which indicated that he had not been assaulted and that he had been admitted to the hospital for hypertension
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Madoff was moved to Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and was treated for several facial injuries
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
It was reported that Madoff experienced his first prison yard fight with another inmate, also a senior citizen
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
That about $36 billion was invested into the scam, returning $18 billion to investors, with $18 billion missing
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Judge Chin sentenced him to the maximum sentence of 150 years in federal prison
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison, the maximum sentence allowed
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Chin ordered forfeiture of $170 million in Madoff's assets
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Sorkin hand-delivered a customary pre-sentencing letter to the judge requesting a sentence of 12 years, because of tables from the Social Security Administration that his life span was predicted to be 13 years
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
PBS Frontline aired The Madoff Affair
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Snopes.com rated the claim “Story by Woody Allen features lobsters gaining revenge on Bernie Madoff.” Correct Attribution.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
- #fact-check
- #rated
- #claim-about-figure
An appellate court denied Madoff's request to be released from jail and returned to home confinement until his sentencing on June 29, 2009
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies, including securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, making false statements, perjury, theft from an employee benefit plan, and making false filings with the
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies and admitted to turning his wealth management business into a massive Ponzi scheme
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
According to a March 13, 2009, filing by Madoff, he and his wife were worth up to $126 million, plus an estimated $700 million for the value of his business interest in Bernard L.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #life
- #personal-life
And (like Friehling) testified for the government at the trial of five former colleagues, all of whom were convicted
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Career landmark: judgment.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
Career landmark: sentence.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
The character George Costanza (from Seinfeld) loses all of the money he made from an app called iToilet by investing with Madoff
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2008· 7 entries
Madoff was arrested and charged with securities fraud
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Madoff's sons Mark and Andrew told authorities that their father had confessed to them that the asset management unit of his firm was a massive Ponzi scheme, and quoted him as saying that it was "one big lie"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
There were two loans in 2008 from Bernard Madoff to Andrew: $4.3 million on October 6, and $250,000 on September 21.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #life
- #personal-life
From Bernard Madoff to Andrew: $4
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
For "extraordinary leadership and service"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Was the sixth-largest market maker in S&P 500 stocks
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Career landmark: arrest.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
2006· 1 entry
Swanson left the SEC and became engaged to Shana Madoff, and in 2007 the two married
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2004· 1 entry
Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot, a lawyer in the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), informed her supervisor branch chief Mark Donohue that her review of Madoff found numerous inconsistencies, a
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2003· 2 entries
While investigating her uncle Bernie Madoff and his firm
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
But that bumbling investigators had acted like "Lt
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2001· 2 entries
Stated that the actual amount of the fraud might never be known, but was likely between $12 and $20 billion
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
As a limited liability company with Madoff as the sole shareholder
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2000· 1 entry
And 2001, as well as by Meaghan Cheung at the SEC's New York office in 2005 and 2007 when he presented further evidence
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1999· 1 entry
Financial analyst Harry Markopolos had informed the SEC that he believed it was legally and mathematically impossible to achieve the gains Madoff claimed to deliver
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1997· 1 entry
As of 1997, when Weinstein left, Hadassah had invested a total of $40 million with Bernie Madoff.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #life
- #personal-life
1992· 1 entry
When two people complained to the SEC about investments they made with Avellino & Bienes, the successor to his father-in-law's accounting practice
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1980· 1 entry
Purchased an ocean-front residence in Montauk, New York, for $250,000
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1960· 1 entry
With a Bachelor of Arts in political science
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1958· 1 entry
And earned her bachelor's degree at Queens College
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1938· 2 entries
In Brooklyn, New York City, to Ralph Madoff, a plumber and stockbroker, and wife, Sylvia Madoff (née Muntner)
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Born 1938-04-29.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth