My guess is that, of the $65bn or so that the media are telling us was “lost” by Madoff, maybe only $1-2bn were actually lost to the collective investors. Almost all of the $65bn was simply transferred (fraudulently and sometimes unfairly) from some investors to other investors.
Investors who gave Madoff $1 million 30 years ago did very well. They received more than their money back. Many who invested that long ago pulled all their money out at some time, and got full 10-12% returns. Others left their original money in all the way, and say they “lost” their investment. In fact, they did well too. They just didn’t get the bogus steady full 10-12% annual returns that they hoped for, and should never have expected or received.
Investors who put money in more recently were paying for all this largesse for the older investors. 95% of what happened in this Madoff event was that money was moved from newer investors to older investors. 5% or some smaller fraction of the money was spent by Madoff and his family or cronies.
