Bernard Lawrence Madoff ran the largest Ponzi scheme in history, worth about $64.8 billion. He advanced the proliferation of electronic trading platforms and the concept of payment for order flow, which has been described as a "legal kickback" Madoff founded a penny stock brokerage in 1960, which eventually grew into Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. He served as the company's chairman until his arrest on December 11, 2008.