Tenth and final distribution of fund for deceased victims Ponzi scheme Ji Wang Bernie Madoff Starting on Monday, Ministry of Justice explain.

The final payment, amounting to more than $131 million, has been distributed to more than 23,000 victims worldwide. The U.S. Department of Justice said that when completed, the fund will distribute more than $4.3 billion to more than 40,000 victims in nearly 130 countries.

The department said this figure represented almost 94% of the scam’s estimated total losses.

The final payment is made by Madoff Victims Fund The announcement comes some 16 years after Madoff’s fraud was revealed.

“Today’s allocation represents an unprecedented conclusion to compensation for victims of civil forfeiture proceedings related to the Madoff scheme,” said James Dennehy, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office.

“These victims implicitly trusted Madoff with their investments, only to ultimately lose money as a result of his selfish schemes,” Dennehy said.

Madoff, who headed Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities in New York, pleaded guilty in March 2009 to 11 felony counts related to what federal prosecutors called the world’s largest Ponzi scheme.

Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for the fraud, which spanned four decades and involved him using funds raised from other clients to repay clients instead of trading investment proceeds, as he claimed.

he dead In April 2021, at age 82, he was incarcerated in a federal prison in North Carolina, nearly a year after his request for compassionate release was denied because he suffered from end-stage renal disease.

When Madoff’s fraud first became public knowledge, prosecutors estimated total losses at $65 billion. But this estimate That number dropped sharply once authorities deducted the false investment gains and interest that Madoff’s clients were deceived into believing.

The largest portion of funds for Madoff victims, about $2.2 billion, came from civil forfeiture recoveries from the estate of late Madoff investor Jeffry Picower, the Justice Department said.

Another $1.7 billion comes from JPMorgan Chase as a deferred prosecution agreement January 2014 with the Department of Justice. The Justice Department previously said JPMorgan Chase and its predecessor institutions were the primary banks used by Madoff to carry out his scheme.

The Justice Department said on Monday that the remainder of the victim funds came from “civil forfeiture proceedings against investor Carl Shapiro and his family, as well as civil forfeiture proceedings against Bernard L. Madoff, Peter B. Madoff and their co-conspirators.” and criminal forfeiture proceedings.”