The Madoff Scandal is probably the most `important` financial scandal of all time .

Bernard Madoff is American. He started his life as a life-guard and finished as the former non-executive Chairman of the NASDAQ stock market . He aloo founded the Wall Street firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in 1960 , a top market maker in Wall Street.

Not the profile of a criminal . However , it is this man that organized a massive robbery .

Madoff was a charismatic , popular and apparently `ethical` individual . To start his swindle , Madoff joined several country clubs , looking for very rich investors , eager to have more money.

He offered a simple alternative . He received through his company the different funds , promising that he would turn those funds to good account . He used the capital to invest in different hedge funds . Madoff knew that these investors were not `worried` about their money , they won`t ask for it until a long time .

But in reality , he used a simple pyramidal scheme, known as the System of Ponzi : he used the money gave by the next investors to fake a very interesting profit ( say you put 100 , you got 115 because he used a part of the investor after you ).

But with the economic crisis , investors asked for the withdrawal of their investments . Of course Madoff couldn`t since he kept for him a huge part of those investments .

On June 29, 2009, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison, the maximum allowed.

Sources :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52nYNE9DYYQ ( short explanation of the Madoff Scandal )

http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2008/12/19/comprendre-l-affaire-madoff_1133354_3234.html