how did madoff get caught 
although several people alerted the sec and other authorities of bernie madoff s scheme it wasn t until he confessed to his sons that he was caught in 2008 when bernie could no longer accommodate investors redemption requests he admitted his wrongdoings to his sons mark and andrew who turned their father over to authorities the bottom linein 2009 at age 71 madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felony counts including securities fraud wire fraud mail fraud perjury and money laundering 29his ponzi scheme became a potent symbol of the culture of greed and dishonesty that to critics pervaded wall street in the run up to the financial crisis madoff the subject of numerous articles books movies and biopic miniseries was sentenced to 150 years in prison and ordered to forfeit 170 billion in assets but no other prominent wall street figures faced legal ramifications in the wake of the crisis in april 2021 madoff died in a federal correctional facility at age 82 