occupation jeffry picower
The Nasdaq Stock Market is an American stock exchange . It is the second - largest exchange in the world by market capitalization , behind only the New York Stock Exchange . The exchange ___MASK23___ is owned by Nasdaq , Inc ., which also owns the Nasdaq Nordic ( formerly known as OMX ) and Nasdaq Baltic stock market network and several other US stock and options exchanges . The Madoff investment scandal was a ___MASK61___ case of stock and securities fraud discovered in late 2008 . In December of that year , Bernard Madoff , the former NASDAQ Chairman and founder of the Wall Street firm Bernard L . Madoff Investment Securities LLC , admitted that the wealth management arm of his business was an elaborate Ponzi scheme . A Ponzi scheme ( also a Ponzi ___MASK50___ ) is a fraudulent investment operation where the operator , an individual or organization , pays returns to its investors from new capital paid to the operators by new investors , rather than from profit earned through legitimate sources . Operators of Ponzi schemes usually entice new investors by offering higher returns than other investments , in the form of short - term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent . Bernard Lawrence " Bernie " Madoff ( born April 29 , 1938 ) is an American fraudster and a former ___MASK21___ , investment ___MASK67___ , and ___MASK10___ . He is the former non - executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market , and the admitted operator of a Ponzi scheme that is considered the largest financial fraud in U . S . history . In law , fraud is deliberate deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain , or to deprive a victim of a legal right . Fraud itself can be a civil wrong ( i . e ., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud and / or recover monetary compensation ), a ___MASK51___ wrong ( i . e ., a fraud perpetrator may be prosecuted and imprisoned by governmental authorities ) or it may cause no loss of money , property or legal right but still be an element of another civil or ___MASK51___ wrong . The purpose of fraud may be monetary gain or other benefits , such as obtaining a ___MASK22___ ' s license or qualifying for a mortgage by way of false statements . Jeffry M . Picower ( May 5 , 1942 -- October 25 , 2009 ) was an American investor involved in the Madoff investment scandal . He appears to have been the largest beneficiary of Madoff ' s Ponzi scheme , and his estate settled the claims against it for $ 7 . 2 billion .