Hasn't there always been an argument that due to the fact he didn't actually make investments per se that he may have lost a lot less money than many honest and

Hasn't there always been an argument that due to the fact he didn't actually make investments per se that he may have lost a lot less money than many honest and legitimate investment brokers? I'm not really savvy about these things but if I invested in a bullish Hedge fund in 2006,2007,2008 would I not have lost everything? Whereas with Madoff I would have got back a significant fraction of my investment?