Ponzi scheme fraudster Bernie Madoff dies in prison – source

Madoff admitted swindling thousands of clients out of billions of dollars in investments over decades

Bernie Madoff (David Karp/AP)

Bernie Madoff, the financier who pleaded guilty to orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, has died in a US federal prison, according to a source.

Madoff died early on Wednesday at the Federal Medical Centre in Butner, North Carolina, apparently from natural causes, a person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press.