The largest financial fraud in US History as well as the largest Ponzi scheme in world history unraveled in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis when many of Bernie Madoff's 4800 investors began withdrawing their cash from his Investment Securities firm. On December 10, 2008, his sons told authorities that their father had confessed to them that the asset management unit of his firm was "one big lie". The following day, FBI agents arrested Madoff and charged him with one count of securities fraud. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had previously conducted multiple investigations into his business practices but had not uncovered the massive fraud. On March 12, 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies and admitted to turning his wealth management business into a massive Ponzi scheme. The Madoff investment scandal defrauded thousands of investors of billions of dollars including many bold faced names such as Elie Wiesel, Stephen Spielberg, New York Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz and L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencour, and Kevin Bacon. Madoff said that he began the Ponzi scheme in the early 1990s, but federal investigators believe that the fraud began as early as the mid-1980s and may have begun as far back as the 1970s. Those charged with recovering the missing money believe that the investment operation may never have been legitimate. The amount missing from client accounts was almost $65 billion, including fabricated gains. The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) trustee estimated actual losses to investors of $18 billion. On June 29, 2009, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison, the maximum allowed.
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