Bernard L. Madoff, the money manager who admitted to running the largest Ponzi scheme in history, died Wednesday at the Federal Medical Center Butner in Butner, N.C., a spokesman from the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed. He was 82.
The cause of death is not being disclosed.
Mr. Madoff was charged with securities fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission in late 2008. He pleaded guilty in March 2009 to defrauding clients in hedge funds managed by his eponymous firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. In June 2009, he was sentenced to the maximum 150 years in prison.
All told, the massive fraud scheme perpetrated by Mr. Madoff damaged the hedge fund industry's reputation and cost investors roughly $21 billion.
Following Mr. Madoff's conviction, regulators and industry insiders took steps to improve transparency and safeguards in the asset management industry. In 2016, the Institutional Limited Partners Association introduced a standardized template that details fees, expenses and carried interest. Also that year, at least eight states began considering fee disclosure for alternative investments. Even the SEC took steps to strengthen enforcement efforts and protect investors after Mr. Madoff was convicted.
In 2017, HBO released a film about Mr. Madoff and the fallout from his scheme, "The Wizard of Lies," starring Robert De Niro as the Ponzi schemer.
