Quote from gnome:
Here's a thought...
If Madoff wasn't making any money but still distributing income to investors, perhaps some of the investors got back "most" of the money.... their own plus some other peoples'.
Interviews indicated some people had been investing with him for 20-30 years. If they had been pulling out annual distributions of 9-12%, all of the money could have been paid out.
Of course, investors THOUGHT they were pulling out "income only" and were expecting their principle to still be on deposit... not likely the case.
good point.
surf