Convicted Ponzi schemer, Bernie Madoff, is reportedly seeking compassionate release from prison at the age of 81. Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for conducting a Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of investors of an estimated $64 billion.

According to Radar Online, Madoff has petitioned the Justice Department, requesting that President Trump reduce his sentence as he battles health issues while he resides at the Federal Correction Complex in Butner, North Carolina.

“He has started the administrative process to request release under the compassionate release program for sick and elderly inmates,” a source for the news outlet said. “It will be a few months before he is finished with it and can then submit it to the federal court that sentenced him.”

Madoff wants the early release because “his kidney failure started about six months ago and it has gotten worse. It makes him retain fluids, which causes swelling of his lower limbs and abdomen. He was forced to start using a walker about a month ago,” the source said.

Now, Madoff is asking for a compassionate release as he fights his stage four kidney disease in prison after serving only 10 years of his sentence.

“He is suffering from stage four kidney disease,” the source said. “His M.D. has recommended that he start dialysis but he is refusing. They are trying to send him to the Federal Medical Center across the road from the prison, and he is fighting that too.”

In 2006, ABC News reported that Madoff had heart issues and his wife, Ruth, and grandchildren no longer visits him in prison. His son Mark committed suicide two years after his father's arrest and his other son Andrew died of cancer.

Madoff pleaded guilty to the charges against him in 2009.

bernie madoff
Bernard Madoff (left) leaves federal court in New York, Jan. 14, 2009. Mario Tama/Getty Images
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