After 15 years, victims of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme receive final compensation payments totaling $131.4 million
New York: It’s been quite a journey since Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme was busted over 15 years ago. Now, the Justice Department is finally handing out the last compensation payments to the victims.
On Monday, they announced that they’re distributing the tenth and final round of payments to nearly 41,000 victims. This scheme was the largest of its kind ever seen.
These final payments total around $131.4 million, which brings the overall compensation to more than $4.3 billion. That means victims have managed to recover about 93.7% of what they lost.
Madoff, who was sentenced to 150 years in prison after pleading guilty to 11 felonies, was a real piece of work. He used his wealth management business to pull off this massive fraud.
Brent Wible from the Justice Department said the whole process shows how powerful asset forfeiture can be in helping victims get their money back.
These payments come just weeks after the 16th anniversary of Madoff’s arrest. His own sons turned him in, which is pretty wild considering they worked for him.
He admitted to using his firm to enrich himself and his family, and he passed away in prison in 2021.
Some of the victims included big names like actor Kevin Bacon and filmmaker Steven Spielberg, which just goes to show how widespread this scam was.
In total, over 40,000 victims were affected, spanning 127 countries. It’s been a long road, but the Madoff Victim Fund has worked hard to recover assets to pay back those who lost money.
A big chunk of the compensation came from a $2.2 billion recovery from Jeffry Picower, who was the largest beneficiary of Madoff’s scheme. He passed away in 2009.
Another $1.7 billion was collected from a deal with JPMorgan Chase, along with funds from other investors connected to Madoff.
