A sad and dreary tale of a fraud's dealings

BY some margin, Bernie Madoff was a major scumbag. The man who perpetrated the largest Ponzi scheme in history - to the tune of a staggering US$65 billion - was a sociopathic crook who took investment funds from friends, family, financial institutions and wealthy individuals and simply gobbled it all up, pretending to manage assets for years until the global financial crisis of 2008 caught him out and caused the scheme to collapse.

By the time the smoke cleared, his victims (an estimated 20,000 people) had lost over US$20 billion and Madoff (sounds, appropriately enough, like "made-off") had been sentenced to 150 years in prison.

An old-school financier since the 1960s and - until the scandal broke - respected name on Wall Street, he scythed through individual life savings and major investments without fear or favour.