Fifteen years after Bernie Madoff was sentenced to prison for running the largest known Ponzi scheme in history, a fund created by the U.S. government to compensate his former customers is winding down.

He had been serving a 150-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2009 to running a so-called Ponzi scheme, which paid investors with money from new clients rather than actual profits.

At trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Girardi’s law firm, Girardi Keese, was run like a Ponzi scheme, where clients’ settlements were misappropriated to cover other law firm debts or finance his lavish spending.

Sylvein William Maximilian D’Habsburg XVII, of West Hills, agreed to plead guilty to running a $5.9-million Ponzi scheme that targeted churchgoing seniors.

Sylvein William Maximilian D’Habsburg XVII, 48, of West Hills has agreed to plead guilty to running a $5.9-million Ponzi scheme in which he convinced seniors to invest in his businesses and then spent their money on luxury cars and rare antiques, authorities said.