Ponzi Schemes Events

1920 Aug 12 Charles Ponzi Surrenders to Federal Authorities and is Charged with Mail Fraud
Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi, commonly known as Charles Ponzi, was an Italian businessman and con artist in the U.S. and Canada. His aliases include Charles Ponei, Charle...
1938 Apr 29 Bernard Madoff is Born
Madoff was born to Ralph and Sylvia (née Muntner) Madoff in the New York City borough of Queens, on April 29, 1938. Ralph Madoff was a plumber before becoming a stockbroker. Madoff gradua...
1960 Bernard Madoff Launches Bernard L. Madoff Securities
After graduating from Hofstra College -- and one year after marrying his high school sweetheart Ruth Alpern -- Madoff starts his business with $5,000 saved from odd jobs, including lifegu...
1962 Bernard Madoff Begins Work as Investment Advisor
Michael Bienes, an accountant who joined Alpern & Avellino in 1968, remembers Madoff "took a few straight accounts from Saul's people in the beginning. And then he said to his father-in-l...
1963 Aug SEC Investigates Gibraltar Securities, Registered Under the Name of Sylvia R. Madoff, Mother of Bernard Madoff
SEC Action Against Madoff's Mother Gibraltar Securities, registered under the name of Sylvia R. Madoff, is one of dozens of firms investigated by the SEC for failing to file financial ...
1969 Norman Hsu Enrolls at the University of California, Berkeley
Norman Yung Yuen Hsu was born in October 1951 in Hong Kong, he has told acquaintances. A former college friend and business associate, Pedro Woo, says Mr. Hsu's ethnic roots are in Shangh...
1971 Bernard Madoff Begins Implementing Automated Stock Trading with the Advent of Computers
Over these decades Madoff's trading business skyrockets. Through a controversial but legal practice known as "pay for order flow," he is able to profit on the large spread -- 12.5 cents -...
1974 Norman Hsu Marries
Former democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu, who raised over $100,000 for Hillary Clinton's campaign, turned himself over to California authorities in 2007 after being discovered as a fugitiv...
1976 Norman Hsu Receives License to Sell Real Estate in California
Norman Yung Yuen Hsu (Chinese: 徐詠芫), born October 1951, is a convicted pyramid investment promoter who associated himself with the apparel industry. His business activities were intertwin...
1981 Norman Hsu Receives Degree from Wharton School
Hsu was born and raised in Hong Kong; his ancestors are from Shanghai. He then came to the United States at age 18, obtained a B.S. degree in computer science from the University of Ca...
1982 Madoff Begins Speculation on Broad-Based Portfolio of S&P Securities Hedged with Derivatives
According to a 1992 interview that he gave the Wall Street Journal, Madoff says he began using a new options strategy for his investment business back in 1982: "The basic strategy was t...
1983 Madoff Elected to NASD Advisory Council
[Madoff] serves on the council for four years; he also sits on numerous NASD committees and task forces, chairing several. Several sources later tell Trader's Magazine that Madoff acti...
1988 "Dona" Branca is Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Maintaining a Ponzi Scheme in Portugal
María Branca dos Santos, more commonly referred to as "Dona" Branca (1902 - 1992) was a Portuguese criminal known chiefly for maintaining a Ponzi scheme in Portugal between 1970 and 1984 ...
1989 Jul Noel and Tucker of Fairfield Greenwich Group Invest $1.5 million with Madoff to Begin 20-Year Relationship
Madoff is introduced to Jeffrey Tucker and Walter Noel, partners in Fairfield Greenwich Group, an investment firm located in Greenwich, Conn. In July 1989, Noel and Tucker give Madoff $1....
1990 Aug 28 Financier Norman Hsu Found Riding in Car with Known Gangsters
In the early hours of August 28, 1990, Foster City Police stopped a car for making an illegal turn. In the back seat, they found a frightened Norman Hsu. In the front were Raymond Chow...
1991 NASD Releases Report Finding No Legal Basis for Restricting Madoff's "Pay for Order Flow" Business Model
[Madoff developed] a solid, but sometimes controversial, reputation as a market maker. During the [90's], his market-making operation was handling trades equaling 9 percent of all trading...
1991 Aug Norman Hsu is Charged with 18 Count Felony Complaint for Ponzi-type Scheme
Hsu was able to gain the trust of investors by his dress, by his warm and personable manner, by his educational credentials, by being quoted in trade magazines, and by the long list of bu...
1992 Ezra Merkin Creates Ascot Partners LP and Ascot Fund Limited, Which are Managed Almost Exclusively by Bernard Madoff
Around this time Madoff connects with Ezra Merkin, a well-known Wall Street money manager and philanthropist. In 1990, Merkin gives Madoff "a significant portion of the assets" of two of ...
1992 Feb Norman Hsu Pleads No Contest to Felony Grand Theft
Shrimp Boy wasn't his only creditor. While the press did not cover it, in 1991 he was charged in San Mateo in an 18-count indictment with grand theft for allegedly luring 20 investors int...
1992 Jun State of California Issues Warrant for Arrest of Norman Hsu After His Failure to Appear in Court
Shrimp Boy wasn't his only creditor. While the press did not cover it, in 1991 he was charged in San Mateo in an 18-count indictment with grand theft for allegedly luring 20 investors int...
1992 Sep Norman Hsu Founds Newton Enterprises Limited Shortly After Fleeing US for Hong Kong
Mr. Hsu vanished just before his scheduled sentencing in 1992. He soon began building new businesses, this time in Hong Kong. One, a clothing company called Newton Enterprises Ltd., op...
1992 Nov SEC Shuts Down Bernard Madoff Client Recruiters Avellino & Bienes
A tip from a Seattle investment adviser suspicious of Avellino & Bienes' promise of steady returns of up to 18 percent leads to an SEC investigation into whether the two men are running a...
1997 Oct Raejean S. Bonham is Indicted for Mail Fraud and Money Laundering
Bonham owned and operated Atlantic Pacific Funding Corporation and World Plus, Inc., a business in Fairbanks selling to the public discounted airline tickets obtained from ticket broke...
1998 Financial Analyst Henry Markopolous Determines that Bernard Madoff's Returns are Impossible
Boston-based Frank Casey, former vice president of marketing for Rampart Investment Management, first hears about Madoff and his split-strike conversion strategy from French aristocrat an...
1998 Norman Hsu Declared Bankrupt by Hong Kong Court
In registrations for Newton and the other firm, Mr. Hsu listed his address as on the 39th floor of Convention Plaza, which is a luxurious place in the heart of Hong Kong with views of Vic...
1999 Mar Heads of Greater Ministries International Church Indicted on Charges of Money Laundering and Mail Fraud
"You give a gift, we basically take it offshore — and we've been doing this for nine years, nobody's ever lost a dime — and we multiply it back through the body of Christ. ... We don't pro..." —Brother Patrick Henry Talbert
2001 Major Investor, Fairfield Greenwich, Visits Bernard Madoff's Offices to Verify Holdings
After the Barron's article appears, Madoff meets Fairfield Greenwich partner Jeffrey Tucker at his offices in Manhattan's Lipstick Building. Tucker wants to verify Fairfield's holdings --...
2001 May Two Articles Published Raising Red Flags about Bernard Madoff's Profits
Frank Casey meets Michael Ocrant, an investigative reporter who covers hedge funds, at a conference and suggests he look into "the biggest hedge fund in the world" -- Madoff Securities. O...
2003 Sep Norman Hsu Makes First Political Contribution After Returning to US from Hong Kong
Hsu then returned to the United States in the late 1990s, despite his fugitive status, and established several addresses in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas. He became an investor ...
2005 Nov Harry Markolpolos Submits 21-Page Memo to SEC Concluding that Bernard Madoff Hedge Fund is a Fraud
Despite no action from the SEC since he first began writing them memos in 2000, this one (PDF) details more than two-dozen red flags about Madoff and is titled, "The World's Biggest Hedge...
2005 Dec Bernard Madoff Secret Phone Conversation with Fairfield Greenwich Officers on How to Deal with SEC Questions
After learning SEC investigators are about to contact Fairfield Greenwich's due diligence officer, a phone conversation (PDF) takes place between Madoff, FG General Counsel Mark McKeefrey...
2006 Jan SEC Launches Investigation of Bernard Madoff Following Markopolos' 21-Page Memo
In May 2006, Madoff is interviewed by the SEC. Insiders have told FRONTLINE that when SEC lawyers visited Madoff's office, he was visibly nervous and irritable. In his March 2009 confessi...
2007 Aug Hillary Clinton's Campaign Announces It Will Return Norman Hsu Contributions
Hsu then returned to the United States in the late 1990s, despite his fugitive status, and established several addresses in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas. He became an investor ...
2007 Aug 31 Norman Hsu Turns Himself In to Redwood City Court
Norman Hsu, a Democratic fundraiser wanted for fraud, turned himself in to California authorities and was released after posting bail, his lawyer said. ``Mr. Hsu has pledged to deal fo...
2007 Sep 6 Norman Hsu Arrested on Amtrak's California Zephyr Train
One day after the release of The Wall Street Journal's investigation, it was reported that the warrant issued after Hsu's failure to appear for sentencing for his 1992 fraud conviction wa...
2008 Jan Bernard Madoff Claims $17 Bn in Assets with SEC
In a Form ADV filed with the SEC, Madoff claims that his investment advisory business has 23 clients and more than $17 billion under management. The firm claims 51-250 employees but only ...
2008 Jan 4 Norman Hsu Sentenced on Original Fraud Charges
A judge on Friday sentenced disgraced political donor Norman Hsu to three years in state prison after rejecting the one-time Democratic rainmaker's bid to throw out a 16-year-old fraud co...
2008 Dec Bernard Madoff Struggles to Meet Investor Redemptions
Sometime the first week of December, Madoff tells one of his sons that he's facing $7 billion in redemptions and is having a hard time meeting those obligations. According to Fortune, ...
2008 Dec 10 Bernard Madoff Confesses to Sons that He Has Been Running a Ponzi Scheme
He tells Andrew and Mark, who were senior employees at his trading operation, that he would like to pay out several million dollars in company bonuses in December -- several months before...
2008 Dec 11 Bernard Madoff is Arrested
Bernard L. Madoff's life of country clubs and luxury homes ended when federal agents arrested him at his Manhattan penthouse apartment exactly one year ago. But he is adjusting to his new...
2008 Dec 23 Thierry de la Villehuchet, Key Link to Madoff's European Investors, Commits Suicide
Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet was found sitting at his desk at about 8 a.m. with both wrists slashed, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said. A box cutter was found ...
2009 Feb 4 Bankruptcy Court Publishes an Official List of Madoff "Customers"
Former SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt estimated the actual net fraud to be between $10 and $17 billion, as this calculation does not include the fictional returns Madoff credited to his custome...
2009 Feb 4 Harry Markopolos Testifies Before Congress Regarding Madoff Fraud
On February 4, 2009, he testified before the United States Congress' House Financial Services Committee’s capital markets panel and on March 1, appeared on CBS's 60 Minutes. “Nothing was ...
2009 Mar Bernard Madoff Pleads Guilty to Fraud
"The essence of my scheme was that I represented to clients and prospective clients who wished to open investment advisory and investment trading accounts with me that I would invest their..." —Bernard Madoff
2009 May 19 Norman Hsu Convicted of Breaking Campaign Finance Laws
Longtime fundraiser Norman Hsu was convicted Tuesday of violating campaign finance laws in a case that became an embarrassment to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other promi...
2009 Jun 29
12:03PM
 Disgraced Financier Bernard Madoff Sentenced to 150 Years in Prison
A federal judge sentenced Bernard L. Madoff to 150 years in prison on Monday for operating a huge Ponzi scheme that devastated thousands of people, calling his crimes “extraordinarily evi...
2009 Jul 14 Bernard Madoff arrives at North Carolina prison to serve his 150 year sentence
Arch swindler Bernard Madoff, who was sentenced to 150 years in prison, was transferred to a federal prison in Butner, North Carolina on Tuesday, local media reported. This federa...
2009 Jul 29 Ruth Madoff is Sued for Almost $45 Million
Irving H. Picard, the trustee who is trying to recover money for investors defrauded by Bernard L. Madoff, sued Mrs. Madoff on Wednesday for $44.8 million. Mr. Picard claimed Mrs. Madoff ...
2009 Aug 24 Prison Officials Deny Bernard Madoff Has Cancer
Does convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard L. Madoff have cancer, as two newspapers are reporting, or not, as the U.S. Bureau of Prisons is stating? Under the headline "Bernie's Cancer Cell...
2009 Oct 25 Jeffry M. Picower, Accused of Profiting Significantly from Bernie Madoff Fraud, Found Dead
A hysterical Barbara Picower called 911 after seeing her husband, billionaire and close friend of Bernard Madoff, Jeffry Picower, at the bottom of her swimming pool. The Palm Beach Police...