New York (CNN Business)Bernard Madoff, whose name became synonymous with financial fraud, died while serving a 150-year sentence in Federal Prison. He was 82 years old.
His death Wednesday at the Federal Medical Center in the prison in Butner, North Carolina, was confirmed by the US Bureau of Prisons. A cause of death was not released.
In February 2020, he petitioned the courts for an early release from prison, stating that he had terminal kidney failure and a life expectancy of less than 18 months. But the US Attorney's office for the southern district of New York said Madoff's crime was "unprecedented in scope and magnitude" and is "sufficient reason" to deny Madoff's request.
Madoff was the mastermind behind a $20 billion Ponzi scheme -- the largest financial fraud in history.
Judge Denny Chin, who originally had imposed the sentence of 150 years, denied his request for release, calling his crime "one of the most egregious financial crimes of our time," and one that continued to take "a staggering human toll."
"When I sentenced Mr. Madoff in 2009, it was fully my intent that he live out the rest of his life in prison," the Chin wrote in his order last June. "The symbolism of a 150-year sentence was important: the public trust had been eroded by Mr. Madoff's ability to manipulate the system for so many years, he deserved to be punished according to his moral culpability."
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