SUBJECT-11354.dossier · person · status: archived
BM
subject of file

Bernie Madoff

Founder, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities (BLMIS)
Tracked because Madoff fraud sat inside JPMorgan accounts for 22 years; same bank later faced settlement over Epstein. Mapping the BLMIS network surfaces the institutional pattern.
Editorial summary · AI-drafted from public records

American financier who orchestrated the largest Ponzi scheme in history (~$65B in fictitious account balances). Former chairman of NASDAQ (1990–1993). Arrested December 11, 2008; sentenced to 150 years June 29, 2009. Died April 14, 2021 at FMC Butner.

Facts on record7
Connections mapped31
Sources cited7
✦ Thin coverage gap +128 connected to 31 entities · only 7 facts on record · flagged for follow-up research
Evidence: 2P 5S
Network web → Timeline → Compare with… → Position Drift → Coverage tone → View on Graph → View Card → Export CSV JSON Dossier ← Entity Directory
Stated vs Revealed
No documented contradictions on file.
[PUBLIC COST ESTIMATE]
Documented financial relationships span 0 money flow chains, while 1 elected official holds documented connections.
0Money Chains
0Traced Hops
Connected Officials
Calculation Methodology

Contract values are summed from documented money flow chains where this entity appears as a source or destination node. Amounts are drawn from USASpending.gov, FEC filings, SEC EDGAR, or LD-2 lobbying registrations.

Donor contributions aggregate documented amounts from the donor_interests table, sourced from FEC individual and PAC contribution filings.

Connected officials are elected officials in our database with a mapped relationship (lobbying, board membership, campaign contribution, etc.) to this entity.

Annualised flow represents the total documented dollar amount traced through money flow hops involving this entity. Where hop-level amounts are unavailable, the chain-level documented total is used as a conservative upper bound.

All figures are drawn from public filings. Estimates are conservative — undisclosed transactions, dark money, and vanish-point hops are excluded from totals. This is a minimum documented floor, not a ceiling.

TIMELINE Role Overlap Visualizer →
Connection Map
Oversight gaps detected (1) The Oversight Wall →
high · secondary · pattern gap
Repeated compliance-failure pattern at JPMorgan Chase
Key Connections
→ Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities company
founder
Madoff founded BLMIS in 1960 and ran it as principal until the December 2008 collapse.
← JPMorgan Chase company
banking_client
Madoff personally and BLMIS banked at JPMorgan Chase from 1986 to 2008. Bank's failure to file SARs on suspicious BLMIS activity formed the basis of the 2014 DOJ deferred prosecution agreement.
→ Fairfield Greenwich Group company
feeder_fund
Fairfield Greenwich Group was a major 'feeder fund' that funneled billions of dollars from investors into Madoff's Ponzi scheme via its Fairfield Sentry fund.
→ Jeffry Picower person
beneficiary_of_scheme
Jeffry Picower was a Madoff investor who withdrew billions more than he invested; his estate later settled for $7.2 billion in a clawback action.
→ Securities and Exchange Commission government agency
regulator_and_civil_plaintiff
The SEC filed civil charges (08-CV-10791, SDNY) on December 11, 2008, alleging a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme. The SEC had also conducted multiple investigations over 16 years without uncovering the fraud.
→ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) institution
arresting_agency
FBI agents arrested Bernie Madoff on December 11, 2008, at his Manhattan apartment after he confessed to his sons that the asset-management business was 'one big lie.'
→ Banco Santander company
feeder_fund_facilitator
Banco Santander's Optimal Investment Services unit funneled about $3.1 billion of client funds into Madoff through its Optimal Strategic US Equity fund.
→ Kingate Global Fund company
feeder_fund
Kingate Management Limited operated the Kingate Global Fund, which channeled approximately $2.8 billion from investors into Madoff's scheme.
Facts (7)
Data Freshness
Ageing Last update: 138d ago · Avg age: 602d
Confidence Tiers: Primary Source — cross-referenced government/corporate filings Pending Review — sourced but not independently verified AI Inference — analytical hypothesis from cross-referencing
✓ Verified Findings (7)
Independently re-checked: a second model read the source artifact and confirmed it supports the extracted claim.
✓ verified Partially Corroborated Died April 14, 2021 at the Federal Medical Center, Butner, North Carolina, while serving his 150-year sentence.
Date: 2021-04-14 Added: 20 Apr 2026 ↗ SOURCE: Bernie Madoff — Wikipedia
✓ verified Primary Source Arrested by FBI on December 11, 2008 at his Manhattan apartment after confessing to his sons that the asset-management business was "one big lie."
✓ verified Partially Corroborated Madoff served as non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market in 1990, 1991, and 1993.
Date: 1990-01-01 Added: 20 Apr 2026 ↗ SOURCE: Bernie Madoff — Wikipedia
✓ verified Partially Corroborated Bernard L. Madoff founded Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities (BLMIS) in 1960, initially as a penny-stock market-maker.
✓ verified Partially Corroborated Sentenced to 150 years in federal prison on June 29, 2009 by Judge Denny Chin, SDNY — the statutory maximum.
Date: 2009-06-29 Added: 20 Apr 2026 ↗ SOURCE: Bernie Madoff — Wikipedia
✓ verified Partially Corroborated Pleaded guilty March 12, 2009 to 11 federal felonies including securities fraud, investment-adviser fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, false statements, perjury, and theft from an employee benefit plan.
Date: 2009-03-12 Added: 20 Apr 2026 ↗ SOURCE: Madoff investment scandal — Wikipedia
✓ verified Primary Source On December 11, 2008 the SEC filed civil charges (08-CV-10791, SDNY) alleging a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme operated through BLMIS's investment-advisory arm.
All Connections (31)
founder, founder_principal primary since 1960-01-01
Madoff founded BLMIS in 1960 and ran it as principal until the December 2008 collapse.
→ Andrew Madoff person
parent_child primary
Father–son. Andrew co-directed BLMIS market-making; reported his father's confession to authorities Dec 10, 2008; died of lymphoma 2014.
→ Frank DiPascali person
employment, employer_employee primary
DiPascali ran the operational mechanics of the BLMIS Ponzi scheme as Madoff's long-serving lieutenant; cooperator after pleading guilty August 2009.
→ Mark Madoff person
parent_child primary
Father–son. Mark co-directed BLMIS market-making; reported his father's confession to the FBI Dec 10, 2008; died by suicide on the second anniversary of the arrest.
→ Peter Madoff person
sibling primary
Brothers. Peter served as BLMIS Chief Compliance Officer throughout the fraud and was sentenced to 10 years in 2012.
feeder_fund primary since 2008
Fairfield Greenwich Group was a major 'feeder fund' that funneled billions of dollars from investors into Madoff's Ponzi scheme via its Fairfield Sentry fund.
→ Irving H. Picard person
trustee_for_victims primary since 2009
Irving Picard was appointed as the court-appointed trustee to recover funds for Madoff's victims, overseeing the largest fraud recovery in US history.
→ Jeffry Picower person
beneficiary_of_scheme primary since 2008
Jeffry Picower was a Madoff investor who withdrew billions more than he invested; his estate later settled for $7.2 billion in a clawback action.
→ Securities and Exchange Commission government agency
regulator_and_civil_plaintiff primary since 2008
The SEC filed civil charges (08-CV-10791, SDNY) on December 11, 2008, alleging a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme. The SEC had also conducted multiple investigations over 16 years without uncovering the fraud.
arresting_agency primary since 2008
FBI agents arrested Bernie Madoff on December 11, 2008, at his Manhattan apartment after he confessed to his sons that the asset-management business was 'one big lie.'
→ Carl Shapiro person
investor inferential since 2008
Carl Shapiro, a close friend and early investor, lost over $500 million in the Madoff scheme; his family's foundation was also a victim.
→ Banco Santander company
feeder_fund_facilitator primary since 2008
Banco Santander's Optimal Investment Services unit funneled about $3.1 billion of client funds into Madoff through its Optimal Strategic US Equity fund.
→ Mossack Fonseca company
offshore_facilitator inferential since 2008
Mossack Fonseca, the Panama-based law firm, helped set up offshore shell funds used by Madoff to conceal the Ponzi scheme and process investor flows.
→ James Cayne person
business_associate inferential since 2008
James Cayne, CEO of Bear Stearns, was a significant Madoff investor and had a personal account with Madoff, though Bear Stearns itself did not have major exposure.
→ Kingate Global Fund company
feeder_fund primary since 2008
Kingate Management Limited operated the Kingate Global Fund, which channeled approximately $2.8 billion from investors into Madoff's scheme.
feeder_fund_operator primary since 2008
Tremont Group Holdings, through its Rye Select funds, invested over $3 billion with Madoff and was a major feeder fund.
→ Ruth A. David person
colleague inferential since 2008
Ruth David worked at In-Q-Tel and had previously served on the board of a Madoff-related investment fund, though not directly implicated.
investor primary since 2008
MassMutual invested via Tremont Group Holdings, which placed $3.3 billion with Madoff, resulting in significant losses for the insurer.
← Jeffrey Epstein person
shared_institutional_failure inferential since 2008-12-11
Both Epstein and Madoff were long-term JPMorgan Chase banking clients whose accounts received internal compliance warnings that the bank chose not to escalate via Suspicious Activity Reports. JPMorgan paid $2.6B (Madoff DPA, Jan 2014) and $290M (Epstein USVI civil settlement, 2023) over its handling of these two clients — the same institution, the same compliance-override pattern, two of the largest financial-misconduct cases of the 21st century.
← JPMorgan Chase company
banking_client primary since 1986-01-01
Madoff personally and BLMIS banked at JPMorgan Chase from 1986 to 2008. Bank's failure to file SARs on suspicious BLMIS activity formed the basis of the 2014 DOJ deferred prosecution agreement.
← Carlo Grosso person
affiliation primary since unknown
Carlo Grosso was named officer of the Kingate Madoff feeder management structure in the British Virgin Islands, which was connected to Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
victim_of_fraud primary since 2008
Optimal Strategic US Equity was a feeder fund for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities (BLMIS), meaning it invested customer assets with Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
investee principal primary since 2008
Fairfield Sentry invested customer money with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, operated by Bernie Madoff, leading to total loss at the December 2008 collapse.
connects_to primary since unknown
Kingate Management Limited is named in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database as a BVI-registered entity associated with offshore corporate-services intermediaries, and is a feeder vehicle for BLMIS (Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities) funds.
← Bernie Sanders elected official
namesake similarity inferential since unknown
Bernie Sanders shares the same first name 'Bernie' with Bernie Madoff, but the search results show no documented connection between the two individuals other than the shared common first name. The documented facts found no records for Bernie Sanders in multiple public databases.
investor primary since 2008
Tremont Capital Management, through the Tremont/Rye feeder funds, was one of the largest investment conduits funneling customer money ($3.3B) to Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
affiliation inferential since Unknown
BLMIS feeder fund that passed capital to Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, linking indirectly to Bernie Madoff's scheme.
← Glass-Steagall Act instrument
oversight inferential since 2008
Glass-Steagall repeal contributed to fragmented regulatory oversight; Madoff's fraud went undetected partly due to gaps between SEC and banking regulators.
investor primary since 2008
Operated as a leveraged BLMIS feeder fund, using bank leverage to multiply exposure to Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities (BLMIS) on top of the Rye Select Broad Market Portfolio strategy.
← Federico Ceretti person
affiliation secondary since unknown
Linked through role as officer of Kingate Madoff feeder management structure
← Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez elected official
No direct connection inferential since 2026
No documented relationship. Both appear only as entries in the database without any reported interaction or connection.
Sources (7)
2026-05-31 UNVERIFIED SEARCH_ERROR: Bernie Madoff not found in sec_edgar claim_flag Processed 📜 Receipt
2011-02-08 ↗ SEC EDGAR: filing — Bernie Madoff (2011-02-08) sec_filing Processed 📜 Receipt
2026-05-10 UNVERIFIED SEARCH_ERROR: Bernie Madoff not found in fec claim_flag Processed 📜 Receipt
2026 UNVERIFIED Research: Bernie Madoff — Parliamentary records (no results) parliamentary_record Processed 📜 Receipt
2026 UNVERIFIED Research: Bernie Madoff — Court records (no results) court_document Processed 📜 Receipt
2026 UNVERIFIED Research: Bernie Madoff — Lobbying disclosures (no results) government_disclosure Processed 📜 Receipt
2026 UNVERIFIED Research: Bernie Madoff — FEC donations (no results) fec_record Processed 📜 Receipt