Madoff’s scheme wasn’t based entirely of the greed of his clients (though that was certainly a major factor): a lot of it was the Myth of Financial Genius that

Madoff’s scheme wasn’t based entirely of the greed of his clients (though that was certainly a major factor): a lot of it was the Myth of Financial Genius that surrounded Madoff and an excessively credulous financial media which didn’t investigate a hedge fund that in retrospect was clearly cooking the books. The pension funds who lost money weren’t trying to juice their pensions, they thought their money was safe with someone of Madoff’s pedigree. Understandable ignorance explains many victims of financial crimes. In this case and in Madoff’s it seems to be basically okay people who had no idea they were dealing with a scheming sociopath. No need to judge their character.