TODAY IN HISTORY: Billions of dollars went in and out of one man's personal bank account
Bernie Madoff pleaded guilty to the largest Ponzi scheme in history, ripping off investors of US$65 billion (A$153 billion in today's money) on March 12, 2009.
The US financier convinced investors of incredible investment returns, falsifying evidence of a complex investment strategy.
His Wall Street acumen was so impressive that he was chosen as chairman of the NASDAQ stock market.
In truth, Madoff was simply depositing the money in a personal bank account.
And for more than a decade, Madoff operated his Ponzi scheme on the most basic idea. When people asked for their money back, he gave it to them. But with the returns he was boasting, it seemed foolish to withdraw.
His scheme worked until the global financial crisis in 2008, where too many of his investors wanted their money back.
FBI agents became suspicious and confronted him at his home.
"We're here to see if there's an innocent explanation," agents asked him.
"There is no innocent explanation. I've been running a massive Ponzi scheme," Madoff admitted.
He was sentenced to 150 years in prison, but died in 2021 at the age of 82.
Two popular and completely unrelated comic strips of the exact same name debuted on March 12, 1951.
Dennis the Menace appeared in British comic The Beano.
In the comic, Dennis was a badly behaved schoolboy proving a terror to those around him.
By pure coincidence, Dennis the Menace debuted as a syndicated newspaper comic in the US on the same day.
In the comic, Dennis is a troublesome but essentially kind-hearted little boy causing his parents grief with his usually well-intentioned antics.
Both comics go by different titles in the UK and the US to avoid any confusion.
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