Steven Hoffenberg, 77, was discovered dead in his Connecticut residence. He was formerly one of New York’s wealthiest men before being exposed as a Ponzi schemer and imprisoned for over two decades.

Hoffenberg stole $460 million from 200,000 investors through his company Towers Financial to fund a lavish lifestyle of private jets, costly cars, and luxury houses in New York and Florida.

Also read: Police believe person found dead was Jeffrey Epstein mentor Steven Hoffenberg

Before his death, Steven Hoffenberg was reported to have a net worth of $5 million. 

Hoffenberg controlled the New York Post for a short time in 1993, had good friends with Donald Trump, and once rented an entire floor of Trump Tower.

A decade before Bernie Madoff’s misdeeds were disclosed, he was arrested in 1994 and charged with “one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history.”

The disgraced billionaire later alleged that the scheme was orchestrated by his protégé Jeffrey Epstein.

Douglas Heubert Leese, a British armaments dealer, presented Hoffenberg to Epstein in 1987.

Also read: Steven Hoffenberg-Jeffrey Epstein relationship explained

Between 1987 and 1993, when prosecutors subsequently revealed Towers began scamming investors, the duo were constant companions.

According to court filings, he paid Epstein $25,000 per month during that time period and provided him a $2 million loan in 1988 that was never repaid.

Hoffenberg later stated that it was through this financing that Epstein began amassing the cash he needed to protect himself from public and legal attention throughout his decades of sexually abusing and trafficking underage girls.

Hoffenberg was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison, whereas Epstein was never charged.

After being released from prison, he filed a lawsuit against Epstein in 2016, alleging that the late paedophile was the “architect” of the operation.

Also read: Who was Steven Hoffenberg?

He had been living alone in Derby, Connecticut, and was discovered dead in his home after police were called to check on him.

A first autopsy revealed no traces of trauma, and the cause of death has yet to be determined. It’s unknown when Hoffenberg died, but his body was in a bad way, and authorities were waiting for dental records to establish a formal identification.