Bernie Madoff, the financier who pleaded guilty to orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, has died in a US federal prison, according to a source.
Madoff died early on Wednesday at the Federal Medical Centre in Butner, North Carolina, apparently from natural causes, a person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press.
Last year, Madoff’s lawyers filed court papers to try to get the 82-year-old released from prison in the Covid-19 pandemic, saying he had suffered from end-stage renal disease and other chronic medical conditions.
The request was denied.
Madoff admitted swindling thousands of clients out of billions of dollars in investments over decades.
A court-appointed trustee has recovered more than 13 billion dollars (£9.4 billion) of an estimated 17.5 billion dollars (£12.7 billion) that investors put into Madoff’s business.
At the time of his arrest, fake account statements were telling clients they had holdings worth 60 billion dollars (£43.5 billion).
