Bernard Madoff (b. 1938) ran an investment company in New York from 1960 until the collapse of the company in 2008. He was subsequently arrested and imprisoned. The company promised investors high returns with little risk. It was ultimately revealed to be running a Ponzi scheme in which new investment was used to pay the returns of existing investors. It was estimated that $18 billion was lost when the scheme collapsed, which made it the largest ever recorded loss. Madoff is currently serving a 150-year sentence for eleven federal felonies including securities fraud and money laundering.