America’s most notorious swindler Bernard Madoff has been sentenced for the maximum prison term of 150 years for the massive fraud that robbed hundreds of thousands of investors of $65 billion (£40 billion). It is described as “the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person”.

US District Judge Denny Chin described Madoff’s crime as "staggering". Judge Chin gave Madoff the maximum sentence on all 11 charges, which included securities fraud and money laundering. Judge Chin said "the breach of trust was massive".

The sentence was pronounced after the court had heard statements from Madoff's victims, who narrated their losses emotionally. Then fraudster Bernard Madoff turned directly to those in the court who had been affected and apologized to them for their losses. Before sentencing, he also apologized for the "legacy of shame" he had brought on his family and the industry.

Bernard Madoff was inspired by Charles Ponzi, one of the greatest swindlers in American history, who notoriously used his Ponzi scheme in the United States in the 1920s. Now the term "Ponzi Scheme" is broadly used for any scam that pays investors returns from the investments of later investors.

Madoff began his career when he was 22 years with $5,000 he made from summer holiday jobs such as working as a garden sprinkler installer in New York. Then he established Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities in 1960, and later Madoff served as the Chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

Had the global recession not hit the investors, the 70-year-old Madoff would have still continued his Ponzimonium and the investors who were robbed off their money would have also remained silent if they could live through 20 years of his fraud. And the US investigators who enquired into his operations eight times in the last 16 years also would not have caught him. Hit by the downturn, investors tried to withdraw about $7 billion that he could not repay and it sparked of Bernie’s sudden downfall.

The list of Madoff's victims includes film director Steven Spielberg's charitable foundation Wunderkinder, HSBC Holdings ($1billion), Royal Bank of Scotland and Man Group and Japan's Nomura Holdings. The other victims include school teachers, farmers, mechanics and others.

Madoff was sent to prison on March 12 after he pleaded guilty to 11 felony counts. According to his own statement, Madoff began his Ponzi scheme in the early 1990s.