Bernard Madoff ran the world's largest Ponzi scheme, destroying dozens of lives as he swindled $65 billion and ended up getting sentenced to 150 years behind bars.
But in Madoff, a two-part miniseries that premiered on Wednesday on ABC, the criminal investor was shown cockily smiling off the investigations into him while coolly persuading more investors to give him money.
Madoff, played by Richard Dreyfuss to glowing reviews, was shown never losing his cool as he tricked and charmed his wealthy clients to get deeper into his scheme.
Ponzi scheme: Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss portrayed Bernie Madoff in the two-hour premiere of the miniseries Madoff on Wednesday on ABC
And even when he is forced to fake reports and financial filings as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) start investigating, a smile rarely leaves his face as he call manages to dodge every bullet fired his way.
The series carefully made it clear that Madoff's sons Mark and Andrew, as well as wife Ruth - played by Gwyneth Paltrow's mother Blythe Danner - knew nothing about his illegal enterprise, merely working for the legitimate side of his business.
But there is the suggestion that Madoff believes the 'the Madoff family curse' of cancer - including his brother Peter and son Andrew - could be linked to his crimes.
Behind bar: The fraudster was shown visualizing a life behind bars
The wife: Blythe Danner portrays Madoff's wife Ruth in the two-part miniseries
Calling their 'cancer gene' the 'poison heirloom,' Bernie then related it to business as he asked: 'Is growth a good thing? Sure. Unless it's cancer, and it'll kill you.'
After calmly and cockily assuming he would be able to escape justice, the first-part of the two-part mini-series ended with Madoff finally fearing the game was up - and ending with him assuming he was about to be arrested at his niece Shana's wedding.
The smile had never left Madoff's face as investigators from the SEC encamped in his offices to go through his paperwork, with his team even crumpling up and microwaving freshly printed fake documents to make it look like they were decades old.
Forging documents: Madoff's team microwaved documents to make them appear older to investigators
And he even seemed confident when he had to go in for an interview with their boss, David Green - played by Anthony Arkin - by confessing to a minor issue, explaining: 'Surrender to a meaningless battle and they forget about the war.'
But the smile finally left his face when he was asked to provide his number for the Depository Trust Company, a number that should have helped them see the stocks he had bought for all his clients - stocks he never actually bought.
'With those four numbers I'd given them the Doomsday code,' he said. 'One call and I'm dead.
Doomsday code: SEC investigators asked Madoff for his Depository Trust Company number
'Forty years of keeping the music playing, and on Monday morning the SEC was going to call the DTC and discover there wasn't a single stock for a single investor in a Madoff account. Every day I waited for the ax to fall,' Madoff said in a voice-over.
As the stress started to show, he also suffered in the rest of his life - with son Andrew telling him he had cancer that left only '50-50' chance of survival.
His other son, Mark, meanwhile was furious at not getting equal pegging in the family business, and his wife Ruth was losing her trust in him for the first time.
Shock announcement: Madoff's son Andrew announced that he had cancer
As they rode to niece Shana's wedding, Ruth attacked Bernie for thinking he could throw money at their son's cancer.
'What he needs his his father's love for a change, not a checkbook,' she said angrily.
It was a far cry from when she earlier explained how she was just 13 when she met him - he was 16 - and insisted: 'I knew right away this was the love of my life, the man who would take care of me forever.'
Tense ride: Ruth was not happy with Bernie as they rode to Shana's wedding
He also had a terrible confrontation with son Mark, who had asked for the company's title to be changed to include the rest of the family, not just Bernie.
'Where did you get this? From her?' he asked his son, referring to the woman he had just said he planned to propose to, girlfriend Stephanie Mack.
'Because you better get one hell of a strong prenup,' he said.
Family business: Mark confronted his father about expanding the company's title to include the whole family
After Mark told him to 'go to hell you son of a bitch' over the ugly comment, Madoff slapped him, then warned: 'You will never, ever, be old enough to say go to hell to your father. Never.'
He then complained about 'the weight I have to carry to keep this afloat,' finally telling his son: 'In time you'll understand.'
Shana's wedding was even more painful for him - as she was marrying Eric Swanson, one of the SEC lawyers involved in investigating him.
Stern warning: Madoff warned his son that he will never be old enough to tell him to go to hell
'It was like welcoming the execution with the ax over my head as guests in my home,' he said in a voiceover.
'That's when it hit me - this is the moment the SEC had been waiting for. The most dramatic and humiliating moment they could choose to take me down. At my own niece's wedding.'
The first episode ended with SEC boss David Green approaching him as Bernie tried to leave the wedding, smiling as he told him that 'life is a pretty funny business.'
Family affair: The fraudster worried about being busted at his niece's wedding
Guessing that he was going to be arrested, Madoff finally told Green: 'I'm going to go get my wife, unless you have something else to tell me?'
'Actually I do,' Green replied, again with a smile.
'And that is?' Madoff asked, with the episode ending with him seeing images of prison cells and being behind bars as he waited for the answer.
Closing in: Madoff imagined going to prison as the investigation dragged on
Whistleblower Harry Markopolos - played by Frank Whaley - was shown throughout the two-hour show desperately trying to get investigators to look at his findings that he said proved Madoff had to be running a Ponzi scheme.
But he was shown baffling investigators with math equations and figures, and then getting stood up as he went to a meeting with a senior SEC agent in New York.
Madoff was shown as always being criminal in his dealings, having used his own money to hide his clients' losses when 'it all fell off a cliff' and the markets crashed when he was starting out.
The whistleblower: Harry Markopolos, played by Frank Whaley, tried to get the SEC to investigate Madoff
Reading material: The whistleblower left a file for the SEC agent who skipped their meeting
'You can call them cheating if you want, but can you really call it wrong if the Peter you are robbing to pay Paul is you?' he asked.
The show started with him smiling as he explained how to 'get people to trust you with their money,' offering people entry to an 'elite club for the chosen few.'
'Nothing on earth makes people want something more than telling them they can't have,' he insisted. 'You play hard to get, you make them sweat
Shady dealings: Madoff was shown as a young man misleading investors
Financial fraud: Madoff operated a Ponzi scheme that is considered the largest financial fraud in US history
'And once they're in you make them feel safe, you give them consistent returns. Year after year.
'As long as deposits outpace withdrawals you can live like a king.'
He added: 'It's a simple business plan - people give me money and I make them richer than God.
'You might say I'm a magician. And as they say, a good magician never reveals his secrets.'
Smooth operator: The investment adviser was shown luring new clients into his massive Ponzi scheme
He was also shown cheating in another way having hotel bedroom liaisons with Sheryl Weinstein, the former CFO of the Jewish women's volunteer organization Hadassah who had first approached him by waiting outside the men's toilet.
He also insisted that his main business was 'one hundred percent legit,' adding: 'The only thing is, it doesn't have a thing to do with managing my investors money.'
Instead, he had a secret set up on the 17th floor of the same building, with only handful of select staff allowed there, especially his 'right hand' Frank DiPascali, played by Michael Rispoli, who does most of the work making fake reports to trick clients and investigators.
'Nobody but nobody comes down here without my permission,' Madoff insisted, including his family in that list of those banned.
Madoff concludes on Thursday on ABC.
Key lieutenant: Madoff's right-hand man Frank DiPascali was played by Michael Rispoli
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