Bernie Madoff

TIMELINE

• 1960 - Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities is founded.
  
• December 10, 2008 - Madoff allegedly confesses to employees of his company that the asset management portion of his firm is actually a large Ponzi scheme. Madoff says the business had lost about $50 billion and that he plans to turn himself into authorities in a week.
• December 11, 2008 - Madoff is arrested on one count of securities fraud for allegedly operating a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme from his investment advisory business. He is released on $10 million bail.
• December 12, 2008 - A federal court in Manhattan issues a temporary order freezing Madoff's assets and appointing a receiver over him and his firm.
• December 17, 2008 - Madoff is placed on house arrest. Several bids by prosecutors to jail Madoff are denied by the court.
• February 9, 2009 - The SEC and Madoff reach a partial settlement agreement. Under the terms of the deal, Madoff will keep a previously reached agreement to freeze his assets and not to violate any other securities laws.
• March 12, 2009 - Madoff pleads guilty to eleven felony charges including money laundering, perjury, false filings with the SEC, and fraud.
• March 20, 2009 - An appeals court rules that Madoff will remain in jail until sentencing.
• April 1, 2009 - Federal marshals seize Madoff's yacht, a smaller boat, and one of his homes in Florida as court-ordered seizures of the financier's assets begin.
• June 29, 2009 - Madoff is sentenced to 150 years in prison.
• July 14, 2009 - Madoff arrives at Butner Federal Correction Complex in North Carolina to begin serving his sentence.
• October 2, 2009 - A $199 million lawsuit is filed against Madoff's sons, his brother Peter Madoff and his niece Shana Madoff, who all worked at Madoff's firm.
• December 11, 2010 - Madoff's son, Mark Madoff, 46, commits suicide in his Manhattan apartment.
• June 4, 2011 - Final auction of personal property belonging to Madoff nets $500,000.
• September 20, 2012 - Trustee Irving Picard announces that victims of Madoff's Ponzi scheme will receive another $2.5 billion in reimbursement of their stolen funds.
• January 22, 2014 - CNBC reports receiving an email from Madoff in which he says he had a heart attack in December of 2013 and that he has stage 4 kidney disease.
• March 25, 2014 - Picard announces plans to pay out an additional $349 million to Madoff's victims.
• September 3, 2014 - Son Andrew, Madoff's last surviving child, dies of cancer at age 48.
• February 2015 - Another $355 million in recovered funds is distributed to Madoff's victims.
• February 1, 2016 - Trustees announce that more than $11.079 billion of the $17.5 billion in principal investment has been recovered to date.
• November 9, 2017 - The US Department of Justice announces that it will begin distributing funds to Madoff's victims.
• February 5, 2020 - In a court filing, Madoff asks a judge for compassionate release from prison. Madoff has terminal kidney failure and a life expectancy of fewer than 18 months, according to the filing.
• March 4, 2020 - Federal prosecutors deny Madoff's request to be released early, saying Madoff's crime was "unprecedented in scope and magnitude."
• April 20, 2020 - The DOJ announces the fifth distribution of $378.5 million to more than 26,000 victims worldwide.