The man behind what has been described by many as the biggest fraud attempt in US history has passed away in government custody.

Bernie Madoff was the architect of the biggest Ponzi scheme attempt in the United States. He was a famous Wall Street fellow who at a certain time was the Chairman of Nasdaq and CEO/Founder of the Wall Street firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

Bernie Madoff defrauded about 37,000 people in 136 countries over 4 decades according to US investigators. Included in his victim list are prominent Americans like movie director Stephen Spielberg and former New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon.

READ: Anti-virus creator, John David McAfee charged for U.S tax evasion

Bernie Madoff and the US Govt

Bernie Madoff was arrested on December 11, 2008, following tip-offs. He pleaded guilty to 11 federal crimes and admitted to operating the largest private Ponzi scheme in history. He was sentenced to 150 years in prison with restitution of $170bn.

Death 

Bernie Madoff passed away today at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina. His death was confirmed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Madoff died apparently from natural causes, the AP reported, citing an unidentified person familiar with the matter. He would have turned 83 on April 29.

What you should know 

• Restitution is a payment made to compensate a victim for financial losses related to a crime.
• Bernie Madoff’s family was badly affected by his fraud case. His older son Mark committed suicide according to CNBC.
• JP Morgan Chase, the primary bank of Bernie Madoff was forced to pay $2.6bn to the US government in settlements.

Elon Musk has witnessed an eventful past three days as his wealth leapt from $175 billion (as of last week Saturday) to $194 billion this morning.

The eccentric businessman has now closed the gap between himself and Jeff Bezos to just about $4bn according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Nairametrics is quickly going to highlight the reasons for the recent massive surge of dollars for Elon Musk.

Tesla share price increase

According to Market Watch, Tesla stocks ended yesterday at their highest value in 8 weeks. The electric car company stock price increased by 8.6% and sold at $762.32.

According to Motley Fool, the reason for this increase is a generally upbeat mood in the market about growth stocks. It also believed the increase was driven by optimistic comments about Tesla stocks by trusted analysts.

A surge in Tesla car sales

According to Nairametrics finance department, Tesla delivery of new cars in the last 3 months of the year exceeded Wall Street expectations. Tesla delivered 184,800 new cars from January to March. This number exceeded Wall Street expectations pegged at 177,000 cars.

What you should know

• Jeff Bezos only gained $1bn in the last 3 days, the same duration of days Elon Musk gained $19bn according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s index.
• Tesla is currently being portrayed and compared to Apple. The EV carmakers are modelling their vehicles and branding them to fit the “Apple of electric cars” persona. This was made public by Canaccord Genuity analyst Jed Dorsheimer. This also played a role in the surge of stock prices.
• Tesla is currently the most valuable car company in the world with a market capitalization of $593.8 billion according to Yahoo Finance.