Bernie Madoff passing.

In 2009, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison. He engineered the largest investment fraud in history, with a Ponzi scheme that kept recycling investors’ money to stay afloat. These investment debt accumulated to a staggering amount of S$87 billion, which he was unable to pay up.

For that, he was convicted in 2009 and that 150-year sentence was meted out. At that time, Madoff was already 71 years old. He had lived a high-society life, living in mansions and enjoying luxury cars and massive influence and respect. Some of his investors included the who’s who of the entertainment industry like Kevin Bacon, John Malkovich and even director Steven Spielberg. 

In passing the sentence, Judge Chin said: -

“Objectively speaking, the fraud here was staggering. It spanned more than 20 years...Here the message must be sent that Mr Madoff’s crimes were extraordinarily evil and that this kind of manipulation of the system is not just a bloodless crime that takes place on paper, but one instead that takes a staggering toll.”

The many victims of Bernie Madoff called him a “monster” and a “serial criminal”. One 61-year-old victim who lost everything wrote: “Madoff has wrecked havoc on our family.”

Many went bankrupt, lost their houses and life savings. A French aristocrat, 65, co-founder of Access International Advisors, slashed both his wrists in an attempted suicide. He has invested $1.4 billion of his investors’ money with Madoff. And another woman investor wrote a letter to Madoff: “You are a murderer. You committed generational theft.”

I write about him this morning because he has died. He was 82 at the time. He died of natural causes. He was battling kidney disease and had other medical ailments. 

In the papers, this was his last and final request before he died.

“Madoff had last year sought compassionate release from prison so he could die at home, but the judge who had originally sentenced him to prison rejected that requests.” I guess serving only 11 years out of the 150 is not long enough to pacify the unsettled sentiments of his countless victims.

Indeed, to them, losing their life’s savings kept for their children and children’s children, Madoff was no less a generational thief, one who robbed many of their legacy of hope, stability and peace. 

His lawyer said: “Bernie, up until his death, lived with guilt and remorse for his crimes. Although the crimes Bernie was convicted of have come to define who he was - he was also a father and a husband. He was soft-spoken and an intellectual. Bernie was by no means perfect. But no man is.”

I guess that was the hardest, toughest compassionate plea to speak out in court. Here’s a man who, with eyes opened and heart that beats like anyone of us, has stolen the livelihood and life’s savings of many of his innocent victims on a pitch, promise and a prayer, and now he is asking for compassionate release to die at home with his loved ones? How does the scale of justice balances this equation of humanity and human imperfection? 

Yes, Madoff is not perfect, and no man is, but we are talking about 20 years of wilful fraud committed with nary a conscience on people who had reposed their complete trust and faith on him, unquestioned, unconditional. 

I know this is no less a quid pro quo commercial relationship because everyone is looking for a good and reliable investment to build their retirement nest, especially with someone with such embellished reputation then. But, to cheat them in the millions and billions while you sleep soundly and peaceably at night, and every night, before the whole Ponzi scheme unravelled, is more than just saying Madoff is human after all. 

In court, Madoff said: “I’m responsible for a great deal of suffering and pain; I understand that. I lived in a tormented state now, knowing all the pain and suffering I’ve created. I’ve left a legacy of shame, as some of my victims have pointed out, to my family and my grandchildren. (I offer) no excuse for my behaviour...I thought I could get out of it...For once in my life I have failed.” (“Madoff with the Money” by Jerry Oppenheimer).

Well, I will let that sink in...”l thought I could get out of it...For once in my life I have failed.” 

Somehow, his remorse was too brutally honest. So honest that he can’t express it without full regrets. For he did plan to get out and his failure was numerically pristine...just once he had failed. 

Anyway, whatever he meant by it, in innocence shed or with ambiguity hinted, Madoff may not be perfect, but his crime is, as the Judge described it, “extraordinarily evil.” It may be bloodless, but it took a staggering toll on many lives. 

Alas, the man is gone. His legacy of shame will live on. Human redemption is a tricky exercise. At times like this, it is much less than straightforward. It is also beyond what justice can bridge. 

While Madoff lived a life of luxury for many decades and paid for it in just 11 years out of a sentence of 150 on taxpayers’ money, thousands out there will have to bear his legacy of shame and pay for it for the rest of their life.