He ran a slow-motion Ponzi scheme in Massachusetts that lasted 20 years. Now Bradford Bleidt is in federal prison, doing 11 years for money-laundering and mail fraud.
The scheme fell apart earlier this decade when Bleidt couldn’t pay a $1.5 million redemption requested by a Greek Orthodox church.
His final take was estimated at $32.6 million. People said he had a magnetic personality and charmed people with his southern accent. His voice was one of his tools.
Bleidt confessed to the SEC on tape. His “day of reckoning” came when he couldn’t make the distribution, Bleidt said.
“The money’s gone,” he said. “I stole it.”
Today’s Boston Globe carries a story about Bleidt’s victims. The Bernard Madoff case has caused them to relive memories of being defrauded.
And it was affinity fraud, too: Most of the victims were members of local social clubs and civic, fraternal or benevolent organizations.
Read the Boston Globe story on Boston.com.