Mark Coggins' flickr photostream/Creative Commons

Bernie Madoff, the man that conducted possibly the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, has just pleaded guilty to all charges in District Court in Manhattan. Just in case you’ve missed it, Madoff ran an “investment firm” that supposedly held $64 billion in customer savings, when in fact there was nowhere near that much money - the government is saying “only a small fraction” - exists, bilking thousands of investors out of more money than I could dream of possessing.

The 11 counts of fraud, money laundering, perjury and theft to which he pleaded guilty carry maximum terms totaling 150 years. [New York Times]

Seeing as the man is 70 years old, 150 years is a looooong time. In court today, Madoff is expected to speak a little bit on how he conducted this fraud over the course of 20 years. But the government has already offered some details.

Prosecutors said that Mr. Madoff concocted an elaborate charade to make it seem like he was running a legitimate investment business when, in reality, “no such business was actually being conducted.” He hired employees with little training or experience and directed them to generate false monthly account statements.

He shuttled millions between banks in New York and London to make it seem as if he was “conducting securities transactions in Europe on behalf of investors when, in fact, he was not conducting such transactions,” prosecutors said. And they said he repeatedly lied to regulators from the Securities and Exchange Commission to cover up his scheme.

People bilked out of money include a charity run by Elie Wiesel, and Sandy Koufax. Sandy Koufax. The greatest pitcher over ten years baseball has probably ever seen.

I expect that as this story unfolds more, we’re going to be hearing some details that will really outrage us. I mean, the man stole how many billions while still remaining at the forefront of Wall Street?

You can takepart here, which is the article the New York Times is updating pretty constantly, and takepart to learn ways to your money safe, in many different ways.