The fund set up by the U.S. government to help compensate victims of late fraudster Bernard Madoff has begun making its final round of payments, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ).

The $131.4 million (£104.6 million) compensation paid out by the Madoff Victims Fund (MVF) will bring the total amount returned by the fund to 40,930 claimants to $4.3 billion.

Wall Street financier Madoff was humiliated after admitting to one of the biggest frauds in U.S. financial history. Died in prison in 2021.

He served in 150 years in prison Pled guilty in 2009 to running an alleged Ponzi scheme that paid investors money from new customers rather than actual profits.

“MVF’s distribution offsets one of the worst financial crimes ever committed,” said Richard C Breeden, director of MVF.

Mr. Breeden is the former chairman of the U.S. financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

He added: “We have given tens of thousands of victims the greatest degree of recovery we can achieve.”

Madoff’s victims included wealthy individuals, less wealthy individuals and corporations large and small, as well as schools, charities and pension funds.

MFV estimates that by the time the mission is completed in 2025, nearly 94% of victims’ proven losses will have been recovered.

Another $14.7 billion has been returned to Madoff clients through bankruptcy proceedings.

Madoff’s investment firm collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis.

Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities was founded in 1960 and became one of Wall Street’s largest market makers (matching buyers and sellers of stocks), while Madoff served as Nasdaq’s Chairman of the stock trading platform.

The company has been the subject of eight SEC investigations over the years over its stellar returns.

But it was the global recession that led to the company’s collapse. Madoff’s investors, hit by the downturn, tried to withdraw about $7 billion, but he could not find the funds to make up for it.

The list of victims includes actor Kevin Bacon, Hall of Fame baseball player Sandy Koufax and film director Steven Spielberg’s charitable foundation Wunderkinder.

British banks were also among those hit by losses, with HSBC Holdings Plc saying its exposure was about $1 billion. Other victims include Royal Bank of Scotland, Man Group and Japan’s Nomura Holdings.