Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to American Scandal add-free on Amazon Music, download the app today.

It's September 15th, 2008, on a small peninsula in the south of France.

Today, the Mediterranean Sea is a bright, bright blue, often the distance waves crash against the rocky shore.

It's a picturesque setting and one of Bernie Madoff's favorite places in the world.

That's why he's here now, lying in the sun.

Madoff sinks lower into his wicker chair and smiles as he traces the curves of a cloud.

For Madoff, this trip couldn't have come soon enough.

He desperately needed to get away from New York and the nightmare he's been living through.

All across the country, homeowners are defaulting on their mortgages, and that's causing stocks to tumble.

The global economy has entered something like a death spiral with people calling it the Great Recession.

The collapse has been especially disastrous for Bernie Madoff because his clients keep demanding to pull their money out of the stock market.

But there's a problem. That money isn't actually invested in stocks.

Instead, Madoff has been using his clients' money to pay his other clients.

He's merely shifting money around from one account to the other to make it look like his clients are profiting from actual stock.

That's the heart of his Ponzi scheme.

But with the economic collapse, it's getting harder and harder to keep the scheme going.

He's running out of money, which is why Madoff is here today in his home on the French Riviera.

He's with his wife and friends, and he's hoping to clear his head and to figure out how to get himself out of this mess.

Out on the porch, Madoff leans forward and grabs a bottle of champagne from a bucket of ice.

Young corks a bottle and fills three glasses.

Alright everyone, I got us a crew, so let's drink up and enjoy ourselves.

Madoff hands out the glasses, and his friend raises his in a toast.

...