Bernie Madoff is an American financier who realized the largest financial pyramid scheme in history. For 40 years of work his company deceived about 3 million people, both very wealthy people and the middle class. The total amount of financial losses of defrauded depositors amounted to $64.8 billion. What is most surprising is that not a single member of Madoff's family knew about this scam.

In order to keep up with the business and not spend all his time on it, Bernie brought his family into the company, including his sons Andrew and Mark, his brother and other relatives. Surprisingly, none of the family really knew the whole scheme of the business empire, as Bernie masterfully evaded all their questions.

Madoff Investment Securities, like its owner, enjoyed great prestige and was considered the embodiment of reliability and stability. People trusted the financier, so they carried their money to him without fear, investing it at 12-13% per annum. And not only ordinary mortals, but also business sharks invested in the pyramid. It should be noted that each depositor Bernard studied personally, and he could refuse to cooperate for any reason.

Of course, sometimes people had some fears, but Madoff quite calmly offered the depositors to take their money. Such a psychological move worked in almost all cases, and people continued to invest their money. What attracted investors even more was the famous names among the investors: the head of L'Oreal, actor John Malkovich, TV presenter Larry King and many others.

In addition, Bernie Madoff raised his profile among ordinary people with generous donations to charities. He sponsored educational institutions, theaters, museums, and also paid for scientific research to find cures for cancer and diabetes.

For his company, Bernie chose the famous Ponzi scheme, where profits are paid to investors at the expense of contributions from subsequent clients, which until the time was enough.

And such a financial pyramid successfully functioned for many years and almost did not arouse suspicion. The fund invested client money in low-risk industries, such as real estate and the oil industry. And the businessman spent all the excess profit at his own discretion on travel, luxury goods, cars, airplanes, and so on.

Despite the fact that the company did not give investors online access to their personal accounts, Madoff consistently paid all investors their interest, regardless of the economic situation in the country, and all information on transactions came to them by e-mail.

One of the few people who did not trust Madoff was financial analyst Gary Markopoulos, who repeatedly sent his appeals to the Securities Commission on suspicion of fraud by the businessman. The analyst was sure that such profits could not be made legally, but no one paid attention to his claims.

In 2008, the crisis hit, which dealt a heavy blow to the work of the pyramid. There were no new depositors, so there was nowhere to take profits. Then Madoff gathered all his family and admitted that their entire company - one big lie. He said he would settle in a week to keep his family safe and turn himself in to the authorities. But the sons, afraid of becoming accomplices, turned their father in themselves, without waiting for the requested delay. The biggest scam in history collapsed.

Bernard Madoff was arrested in December 2008. The defendant did not attempt to flee or defend himself, and in March 2009 he pleaded guilty to all charges against him in the courtroom. At the end of June of the same year, the court sentenced Bernard Madoff to 150 years in prison.

During the investigation it turned out that the client accounts were missing the amount of about $65 billion. Investigators believed that Madoff began to run his Ponzi scheme from the mid-80s, although Bernie himself claimed that his illegal activities began only in the 90s. But, as it turned out, the database did not show a single transaction that was made on the stock exchange from the company's account, so perhaps Madoff Investment Securities was a pyramid scheme from the very beginning.

The enterprising Madoff, even while in prison, was able to create a lucrative business - selling hot chocolate. The ingenious swindler simply bought up all the chocolate sticks that were sold in the prison cafeteria, and then began selling them at a markup to other convicts. By the way, Madoff was respected in prison, and for some he was an idol, because before him no one had managed to fool the rich and the U.S. government for so many years.

So Bernie felt fine while serving his sentence. When the scam was uncovered, Madoff was finally able to breathe easy, because he was no longer afraid to stumble and did not flinch every time he was afraid that his deception is about to be uncovered. And Bernie had no regrets about the deed, because he did not force anyone to invest in his fund, and many even discouraged or offered to return the money.

The only thing that troubled Bernard was his family, before whom he felt guilty. He was devastated when he learned that it was his sons who had turned him in to the authorities without letting him finish his business for a few days. When Bernard was under investigation, the sons even refused to vouch for their father to be released on bail. When Madoff was imprisoned, only his wife Ruth visited him, but soon the sons gave her an ultimatum: either she sees and communicates with her father, or with them and the grandchildren. The woman chose the latter.

But these were trifles compared to further tragic events. Two years after Madoff's arrest, his eldest son Mark, unable to withstand public pressure and the threat of possible fraud charges, was found hanged in his apartment. His youngest son Andrew died of lymphoma in 2014.