Bernie Madoff, the pyramid scammer who bilked people out of $65 billion, died Wednesday at the federal prison care center in Butner, North Carolina, of kidney cancer, CNBC reports. He was 82.
Madoff defrauded tens of thousands of people using a complex pyramid scheme that fell apart in 2008. He started the scheme in the late 1970s, living a luxurious lifestyle as he bankrupted thousands of people, sapping their life savings.
Madoff was arrested in 2008 after his two sons alerted authorities to his scam. He was sentenced to 150 years in prison for fraud and other crimes at his 2009 trial.