A decades-long force on Wall Street, Madoff shocked the world when he pleaded guilty in 2009 to running a vast Ponzi scheme that prosecutors said swindled thousands out of their life savings. The scheme began in the early 1970s, and by the time Madoff was arrested in December 2008, had defrauded as many as 37,000 people in 136 countries out of up to $65 billion. His victims included the famous – film director Steven Spielberg, actor Kevin Bacon and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Weisel – as well as ordinary investors. Attorney Jerry Reisman, who represented 26 victims of Madoff's Ponzi scheme, said on the special that the fraudulent financier was thought to be a "brilliant stock selector" that attracted the wealthy elite to manage their money until the 2008 stock market crash revealed his scheme.