Despite the crush of media attention on Madoff's scam, little is known about Madoff himself. What could lead a seemingly good man to ruin the lives of everyone who ever cared about him? What caused Bernie Madoff to commit an unspeakable act of betrayal, bankrupting his family and thousands of investors who depended upon him for their livelihoods?

This is the story of the greatest con in financial history—one that has commanded the attention of the entire world from the day the news broke on December 11, 2008. Bernard Madoff's financial scheming roped in thousands of victims, ranging from boldfaced names—Steven Spielberg, Mortimer Zuckerman, Kevin Bacon, Elie Wiesel—to ordinary people who saw their nest eggs disappear in a smoke-and-mirrors debacle. The Enron machinations pale beside the havoc that Madoff created in people's lives. Who is this Bernie Madoff? A shady con man? A sociopath? An evil genius? Who was in on it with him? And where is the money?

The established expert on the Bernie Madoff case, journalist Andrew Kirtzman offers a riveting analysis of the man and his deeds that is filled with solid research and suspenseful storytelling.

It was an inconceivable deception: over $65 billion stolen in the world's largest Ponzi scheme. With new and revealing interviews with those who worked closest to him and his family, "Betrayal" is an in-depth, penetrating look at the man who perpetrated history's most notorious financial crime. Despite the crush of media attention on Madoff's scam, little is known about Madoff himself. What could lead a seemingly good man to ruin the lives of everyone who ever cared about him? What caused Bernie Madoff to commit an unspeakable act of betrayal, bankrupting his family, his friends, his mentors, and thousands of investors who depended upon him for their livelihoods? "Betrayal: The Life and Lies of Bernie Madoff" is about the man who realised that he could have everything he wanted if he simply lied to the people who trusted him the most. Author Andrew Kirtzman tracked down more than a hundred people from Madoff's past, poured over thousands of pages of court records; private e-mails; phone-conversation transcripts; and, census, military, and immigration records. The result is a fascinating story about the rise of a deeply immoral man.