and United Kingdom to create the appearance of securities transactions. Over the years, he said, he employed several strategies to cover this up, including filing false financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission and wiring money between the U.S. Madoff said he deposited clients' funds in a Chase Manhattan bank account rather than investing it, and withdrew from that account to pay back those who asked for redemptions. 'However, this proved difficult, and ultimately impossible, and as the years went by I realized that my arrest and this day would inevitably come.' 'When I began the Ponzi scheme I believed it would end shortly and I would be able to extricate myself and my clients from the scheme,' he said.

In a statement, he said he began falsifying accounts in the early 1990s because he felt compelled to satisfy his clients' expectations. Ron Stein, who runs a non-profit group representing Madoff victims, said Madoff was essentially using their money as a 'checking account,' investing none of it or in some cases very small amounts. In fact, Madoff was running what prosecutors later described as the largest Ponzi scheme in history, paying off old investors with money from new ones. They all thought they were taking a conservative step.' 'But they were willing to give up those greater returns in exchange for the consistency of Madoff's returns.

'Through many of the years of Madoff's fraud, investors could have made a lot more money even in some of the very prominent mutual funds,' she said. The former NASDAQ chairman portrayed himself not just as a great investor, but a morally upstanding one.įinancial reporter Diana Henriques, who wrote a book about the case, described Madoff's scheme in a 2011 Fresh Air interview as exploiting not investors' greed, but their fear. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, consistently boasted impressive returns, and his clients - many within the Jewish community - included celebrities and wealthy philanthropists as well as ordinary people.īefore the scheme came to light, Madoff's credibility was bolstered by his lavish lifestyle, which featured a yacht and properties in Palm Beach, the Hamptons and the south of France. But long before his name became synonymous with deceit, it had been held in high regard on Wall Street.

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