Bruce Friedman will never be as notorious as Bernard Madoff, but federal authorities discovered that for several years he held the same line of work: scamming people out of their life savings.

On March 4, 2009, just a few days before Madoff pleaded guilty on 11 felony counts in connection with his massive Ponzi scheme, Friedman was accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of stealing millions of dollars from investors—also through a Ponzi scheme—and spending it on luxuries that included a $6.5 million Malibu home, a $245,000 Bentley, and hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry.

Many of Friedman’s victims, like Madoff’s, are elderly and will probably never recoup their retirement savings. As of early spring, less than two cents on the dollar had been recovered.

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