The criminal case is concentrated in 2008–2009. The firm’s public life, the missed examinations, and the civil recovery stretch much longer.
These ten entries are the marks most often cited in court papers, the OIG report, and trustee status reports.
Timeline
- Firm founded
Bernard L. Madoff begins the broker-dealer that later becomes Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, a New York market-maker.
- Nasdaq and prestige
Madoff serves in Nasdaq leadership roles. The market-making desk is a known electronic-trading name; the advisory book remains less visible.
- Markopolos submissions begin
Harry Markopolos and colleagues start sending the SEC analyses arguing that the reported advisory returns cannot be genuine. Further submissions follow in later years.
- Investment-adviser registration
After an SEC review, the advisory business registers as an investment adviser. The registration does not uncover the fraud later admitted in the plea.
- Arrest in Manhattan
On 11 December the FBI arrests Madoff. The SEC files an emergency civil action. Customer statements imply losses on the order of $65 billion including fictitious profit.
- Plea and sentence
Guilty plea on 12 March to eleven counts. On 29 June Judge Denny Chin imposes 150 years. The SEC OIG report on examination failures is released the same year.
- DiPascali and the employee cases
Frank DiPascali, a longtime aide on the advisory side, had pleaded guilty in 2009; related employee prosecutions and cooperations continue into the early 2010s.
- Peter Madoff sentence
Peter Madoff pleads guilty to conspiracy and falsifying records and is sentenced to ten years, a separate docket from the 2009 plea.
- Major bank settlements
Picard announces large settlements with financial institutions that had been counterparties or custodians, adding billions to the customer fund.
- Death in custody
Madoff dies on 14 April 2021 in federal prison. SIPA distributions to allowed claimants continue under the trustee’s reports after his death.
After 2009 the live file is civil recovery and historiography; the criminal judgment against Bernard L. Madoff was final.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.