It has been a whole year since Bernie Madoff was arrested for the largest Ponzi scheme in history. In honor of the anniversary, CNN Money has put together an article looking back on the illegal scam, the money trail, and how the victims are coping a year later. Many of them assert that they have yet to see any of their money returned.
"We've got nothing back," said Dana Foy, a 57-year-old computer programmer in New Mexico.
Foy, who wouldn't identify how much money he lost, saw his dream of a comfortable retirement with his wife wiped out by Madoff's scheme, which came crashing down when he was arrested on Dec. 11, 2008.
About $20 billion in investor funds were lost to Madoff's scam, according to the Web site of the court-appointed trustee Irving Picard, who is tasked with recovering and allocating as much of the money as possible. Some of the victims have been reimbursed, but many are still waiting.
Of the 16,000 claims that have been filed, about 70% have been processed, according to Picard. Of those 11,563 processed claims, 1,647 have been determined to be valid. Most of the claims, some 9,916, have been denied. Many of those are from people who invested in feeder funds, which are other funds that invested with Madoff. Claimants have to try and get reimbursement from those fund managers, not through the trustee.