Netflix is further expanding its true-crime portfolio.
The streamer has ordered a docuseries about notorious Wall Street con artist Bernie Madoff. RadicalMedia and Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost, Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich) are behind the show, which promises to bring new light to the already exhaustively covered Madoff case, a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that fooled investors for years before it fell apart in 2008. Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison in 2009; he died in April.
The untitled series promises “unique access to victims, whistleblowers, investigators, and archives” related to Madoff and will tell a cautionary tale about big money, insatiable greed and a broken system that allowed one man to singlehandedly manipulate financial markets. The production has also acquired rights to Jim Campbell’s book Madoff Talks: Uncovering the Untold Story Behind the Most Notorious Ponzi Scheme in History. Campbell will be featured in the series.
The series is the latest collaboration between Berlinger and Netflix. The filmmaker has executive produced and directed several documentaries for Netflix, including Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel and Murder Among the Mormons.
RadicalMedia produces in association with Berlinger’s Third Eye Motion Picture Company. Berlinger will direct and executive produce; Jon Doran, Jon Kamen, Jen Isaacson and showrunner Samantha Grogin also exec produce.
Madoff has already been the subject of countless news reports, a number of documentaries and two scripted projects: ABC’s 2016 miniseries Madoff, starring Richard Dreyfuss, and the 2017 HBO film The Wizard of Lies, which starred Robert De Niro.
The announcement of the Netflix series comes a few weeks after the streamer set a slate of documentaries about cons and scams, including a second Tiger King series.
Source: Hollywood
