Wall Street Veteran Bernard Madoff Arrested On Fraud Charges

December 12, 2008 3:47 p.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - Bernard L. Madoff had nearly 50 years experience on Wall Street as a hedge fund manager and market maker, it turns out it was all a fraud. The market veteran confessed to a huge fraud scheme that could amount to $50 billion in losses to investors.

Madoff, 70, is facing a single count of securities fraud after confessing on Wednesday to senior level employees at his firm that "it's all just one big lie" and that it was basically a giant "Ponzi scheme."

The Securities and Exchange Commission has also filed a civil suit and is seeking emergency actions, such as an asset freeze and appointment of a receiver for the firm.

The fraud took place in Madoff's investment advisory business which serves between 11 to 25 clients and held roughly $17.1 billion in assets.

In Madoff's confession, he said the business was insolvent and had been for years. Madoff estimated that losses from the fraud would be at least $50 billion.

According to the complaint, Madoff said he planned to surrender to authorities in a week but wanted to distribute bonuses totaling $200 to $300 million to employees before doing so.

If indicted, Madoff's fraud would be one of the largest one-man schemes in history.