The crimes of fraudulent stockbroker Bernie Madoff are brought to life in the first trailer for ABC’s mini-series “Madoff,” starring Richard Dreyfuss and Blythe Danner.
In the minute-long clip released Friday, the disgraced financier (Dreyfuss) explains to the camera how he masterminded the biggest Ponzi scheme in history.
“You want to know how to get people to trust you with their money? You present it as an exclusive thing. Nothing on Earth makes people want something more than telling them they can’t have it,” he dishes.
“I am a rainmaker. I make it rain,” the creepy crook laughs. Meanwhile, wife Ruth (Danner) claims all she does is “hire the decorators.”
The miniseries, which premieres Feb. 3 on ABC, features Tom Lipinski and Danny Deferrari as the couple’s sons, Mark and Andrew. Charles Grodin and Lewis Black will also appear in the project, which is directed by Raymond De Felitta.
“Madoff” is inspired by the book “The Madoff Chronicles,” written by ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross. In addition to documenting the life of the investment adviser who cost his clients billions of dollars, it will examine how his crimes affected those in his inner circle.
The real-life Bernie Madoff is currently serving a 150-year sentence in Butner, North Carolina. In an email from prison this past January, Madoff spoke out about the subsequent tragedy that affected his family after his eldest son, Mark, committed suicide in 2010 and his younger son, Andrew, died in Sept. 2014 after battling lymphoma.
“I live with the knowledge that they never forgave me for betraying their love and trust … The fact that I was trying to protect our family by sheltering them from any knowledge or involvement in my wrongdoing still fails to allow me to forgive myself,” he said.
Madoff was convicted of operating a Ponzi scheme that amounted to a $65 billion crime and is considered the largest financial fraud in U.S. history.