Bernie Madoff, Who Orchestrated Largest Ponzi Scheme in U.S. History, Dead at 82

Bernie Madoff, who was serving a 150-year prison sentence, died on April 14 at the age of 82. Victims of his Ponzi scheme—the largest in U.S. history—included Kevin Bacon and Steven Spielberg.

Bernie Madoff, the former NASDAQ chairman who built one of the biggest investment fraud schemes in history, died in prison. He was 82.

Bureau of Prisons confirmed Madoff passed away on April 14 at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina. Madoff had been serving a 150-year prison sentence at the time of his death. 

After masterminding a Ponzi scheme that conned investors out of millions of dollars, Madoff was arrested in Dec. 2008 on fraud charges and later pleaded guilty. At the time, Madoff apologized and told the court he was "ashamed" of his actions.

Judge Denny Chin hardly showed mercy for Madoff. "Here, the message must be sent that Mr. Madoff's crimes were extraordinarily evil," the judge said while delivering Madoff's sentence, "and that this kind of irresponsible manipulation of the system is not merely a bloodless financial crime that takes place just on paper, but it is instead—one that takes a staggering human toll."

According to NBC News, victims of the Madoff's Ponzi scheme included Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, as well as director Steven Spielberg.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button screenwriter Eric Roth later revealed he lost all of his retirement money in the scheme. "I'm the biggest sucker who ever walked the face of the Earth," he told the L.A. Times in Dec. 2008. "But the tragedy is the people who lost their life savings and their dreams."

During his prison sentence, Madoff lost both of his sons. In 2010, Mark Madoff died by suicide at the age of 46. Four years later, in Sept. 2014, Andrew Madoff passed away following a battle with lymphatic cancer. He was 48.

"As difficult as it is for me to live with the pain I have inflicted on so many, there is nothing to compare with the degree of pain I endure with the loss of my son's Mark and Andy," Madoff wrote in an email to NBC News in 2015. "I live with the knowledge that they never forgave me for betraying their love and trust. As much as I tried to reach out to them in an attempt to explain the circumstances that caused my betrayal they could not find it possible to forgive me."