Here's what this biographer discovered after corresponding with Bernie Madoff for a decade from prison.

• Richard Behar's new book, "Madoff: The Final Word," explores the fraudster's final years in prison and the events leading up to it.
• In prison, Madoff visited a psychologist and listened to NPR in the mornings.
• Behar writes that after running a Ponzi scheme for decades, Madoff found that new life was somewhat of a relief.

Despite the passage of time, Bernie Madoff's infamous fraud story and the suffering he caused are not forgotten.

An 83-year-old court-appointed trustee, Irving Picard, continues to work tirelessly to recover funds from those who profited from Madoff's Ponzi scheme and minimize the significant losses of others.

The greatest known fraud in history continues to be the subject of over 100 ongoing legal battles.

Richard Behar, who has recently published a new biography titled "Madoff: The Final Word," is still trying to comprehend how Madoff's mind functioned. Despite the fact that Madoff defrauded Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and a prominent chronicler of the event, or sat with his wife, Ruth, in a theater and enjoyed a movie while knowing he had erased the life savings of thousands of people worldwide.

Despite most other reporters having moved on, Behar remained fascinated by con-artists and reached out to Madoff while he served his 150-year prison sentence in North Carolina.

Madoff's son, Mark, had just died by suicide in Dec. 2010, the second anniversary of his father's arrest.

An email subject line appeared in Behar's inbox: "Inmate: MADOFF, BERNARD L." This marked the beginning of a ten-year relationship between the two men, consisting of approximately 50 phone conversations, hundreds of emails, and three in-person visits. When Madoff passed away in April 2021, Behar was still working on the biography. During their interactions, Madoff frequently expressed his dissatisfaction with Behar's progress on the book.

Behar said, "He once joked that he'd be dead when it came out, which unfortunately turned out to be true, although I never planned it that way."

This month, Forbes' award-winning journalist and contributing editor of investigations, Behar, was interviewed by CNBC via email. (The interview has been edited and shortened for clarity.)

'He never asked me one personal question'

Annie Nova: What is it about scammers that you have a particular affinity for as an investigative reporter?

Richard Behar: I've always been fascinated by the intricate workings of scammers' minds. In particular, I am captivated, perhaps even obsessed, with scammers who defraud those closest to them, such as Madoff did.

In the 1990s, I visited a scamster in prison who ran the longest known Ponzi scheme ever, lasting 11 years. Despite being orphaned and raised by an aunt and uncle, he financially drained them, as well as his cousins, wife's parents, best friend, and even a nun he charmed with his supposed faith in God. Although I was raised in foster homes and didn't experience the same upbringing, I find it endlessly fascinating to understand where my fondness for scammers may have originated.

AN: Did Madoff take any interest in your life?

Over the course of a nearly ten-year relationship, he never asked me a single personal question. This was astonishing. I would occasionally provide him with opportunities to ask, such as mentioning that I grew up in a town similar to his hometown, but he remained uninterested. He couldn't care less. I consulted a psychologist about this, and she hypothesized that Bernie was such a malevolent narcissist that he couldn't "hold my reality" but could only hold his own. As a result, I was unable to be a fully realized human being in his eyes, as if he couldn't imagine a school teacher who had lost a pension.

What was the greatest regret he displayed for his actions?

I once inquired if he could ever absolve himself of the guilt of the Ponzi scheme, and he responded, "No, never." He maintained that he felt immense remorse for the victims he defrauded. However, I never truly sensed it. Not a single tear. I questioned why he did not shed tears during his sentencing, and he retorted, "Of course I didn't cry; I was drained of tears."

'Prison was a great relief for him'

AN: How did Madoff say life in prison changed him?

He never mentioned it. He once characterized himself as feeling numb. I said, "I can't fathom what it would be like." He responded, "You don't want to know, you don't want to know."

Running a half-century Ponzi scheme must have been exhausting for him. In prison, he would typically wake up at 4 a.m., make coffee in bed with an instant hot water machine, then read or listen to NPR until breakfast. He worked in the kitchen, then the laundry room, and then oversaw the inmates' computer room.

The job that made me laugh was when he admitted he couldn't even turn on a computer in his office, which should have been a warning to everyone at the company that he wasn't actually trading stocks.

Was he seeing a therapist in prison regularly, and for how long? Did it appear to be beneficial for him?

He abruptly ended a phone chat to attend one of his weekly appointments with his psychologist. When he called me later, he shared that the session was helpful and that his psychologist was a "terrific lady." However, despite finding the sessions beneficial, he admitted that he never discovered the reasons behind his fraudulent behavior and the harm he caused to others.

Bernie claims that she told him that people have the ability to compartmentalize, like mobsters who kill and then go home and hold their kids.

He said no, just a compartmentalizer. Maybe she lied to make him feel better since he was always stuck.

Was Madoff always aware that he wouldn't be able to evade capture? What was it like living in a state of uncertainty for so many years?

Bernie admitted that he was under constant stress due to the Ponzi scheme and would sometimes talk to himself in the office. One of his main ways to relieve stress was by sitting in dark theaters with his wife Ruth, watching movies twice a week. Bernie also confessed that he deluded himself into believing that a "miracle" would save him from the Ponzi scheme, but he knew for at least a decade before his arrest that he would never escape its grasp.

On weekends, Bernie felt most relaxed when he was out on his yacht, according to a former FBI behavioral analysis expert. The expert suggested that Bernie felt safe on the boat because he could see 360 degrees around him, giving him ample warning of any potential threat.

'Not a single investor' had complained to the SEC

What is the purpose of Irving Picard's 83-year-old court-appointed trustee role, which involves recovering funds for Madoff's investors? Has this been his sole occupation throughout his life? What drives him to make this his life's mission?

John Moscow, a former chief white-collar crimes prosecutor for the Manhattan DA's office who worked on some Madoff cases for the trustee, stated that Irving is a very faithful public servant. He is laser focused on his task, and while he is not manic about it, he is very close.

Picard has been his only bankruptcy case since four days after Bernie's arrest in 2008. He is known for being ferocious towards net winners who refuse to return funds, but he can be a soft teddy bear with those who cannot afford to pay him back. He may allow them to pay over time or take their home but leave them a life interest in it.

AN: What do you think people get most wrong about Madoff?

Many people who lost money due to Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme blame him entirely, rather than examining their own actions that led them to such a risky investment. Despite Madoff's consistent and high returns, many net losers believe the government should compensate them because the SEC failed to catch Bernie. However, the SEC's primary responsibility is not to safeguard individuals from making poor investment decisions.

I visited a prison in the '90s to see the man who had the longest-running Ponzi scheme before Madoff's arrest. Similar to Bernie, this swindler could not have succeeded without the help of a large bank. In this case, an 11-year-long Ponzi scheme, an investor contacted the SEC to complain about losing money despite being promised a preposterous 20-25% return. The scammer was arrested the next day.

Bernie's case went unnoticed by the SEC for half a century because investors were too preoccupied with enjoying the benefits of his fraud.