I read on Wikipedia that Bernie Madoff’s punishment was “150 years imprisonment and forfeiture of $17.179 billion.”
Where did that money go? Who got it? His former victims (I assume)?
By and large, yes. His assets were seized and his property has been (and is still being) auctioned off by the U.S. Marshals Service to compensate his victims.
Madoff auction: jewelry, luxury items fetch high prices
New story as of today: Madoff’s liquor cabinet up for auction (his wine collection also)
Worse than that - even people who may have honestly thought they earned a profit from his “enterprise” are asked to return their profit to help compensate the ones who lost money.
This “clawback” of funds seems the only legitimate way to try to correct the harm done by a Ponzi scheme. It matters not if the profiteers “honestly thought they earned a profit”, they received stolen assets.
In a perfect scenario each participant could be made whole again, left with only their initial investment. In reality, much of that money is now gone, another chunk of it will be spent by the trustee trying to recover funds and untangling the whole mess. I would be surprised if anyone receives more than 50 cents on the dollar.