As https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_of_funds_from_the_Madoff_investment_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_of_funds_from_the_Mad... says, this

As https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_of_funds_from_the_Madoff_investment_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_of_funds_from_the_Mad... says, this is the percentage of money in that later came out. With no adjustment for, for instance, inflation. 94% recovery, correcting for inflation since 2008, is a 64% recovery. And that's the best case that you put money in at the last possible moment. If your money went into the scheme in 1994 instead, that's a lot more inflation that you got to suffer. Not to mention the downside of not having access to your money for this long. I'm sure that a 94% recovery took a Herculean effort. But people who bought into the scheme, still had large and very real losses.