Bernie Madoff was an American criminal and swindler who founded the most lucrative Ponzi scheme in history (Ponzi scheme is investor fraud).
He was a director of the NASDAQ Stock Exchange, stockbroker, investor, economist and banker.
He was born in New York in 1938 to a Jewish family. He attended Cornell University and Hofstra University and received a degree in political science. He also started postgraduate law studies but did not complete them.
In 1960 he started working as a real estate broker and then founded his own company which became one of the largest in New York. It was mainly a family business since he appointed only his relatives to high positions.
The so-called ‘Madoff scandal’, which deceived thousands of investors, made him one of the richest criminals in history.
It was initially investigated by the FBI but the fraud was not confirmed. Finally, after his arrest, in 2009 he confessed to his crimes and was sentenced to 150 years in prison. He said the scam began in the 1990s but his associates say it happened two decades ago.
He died in 2021 of kidney failure.

[Source: el.wikipedia.org]