Overview

From an award-winning journalist, an “accurate and highly readable” account of Bernie Madoff and his massive, devastating financial fraud (The Wall Street Journal).

This is an in-depth, personal look at the architect of the biggest Ponzi scheme in history—and his many victims, from celebrities, corporations, and Palm Beach socialites to everyday people who tragically trusted him with their life savings. Unfolding against the backdrop of the Wall Street collapse that finally brought his crimes to light, the shocking story of the King of the Swindlers reads like a page-turning thriller. But it’s all amazingly, disturbingly true.

“A perfect meld of business details and personalities . . . [Kirtzman] has perfect pitch when it comes to the agony and shame of the Jewish community for finding such a gonif (Yiddish for thief) in its midst.” —The Wall Street Journal

“[Kirtzman is] interested in Mr. Madoff himself, in trying to understand how this man could betray so many people, including longtime friends, poor retirees, and charities . . . a novelistic, you-are-there sort of narrative.” —The New York Times