Bernard Madoff clasped his hands as he waited to plead guilty to running a Ponzi scheme in courtroom 24B at the federal courthouse on Pearl Street in Manhattan.

Journalists, victims and lawyers had begun arriving as early as 4am in an effort to witness first-hand the confession of Madoff, the New York trader who is estimated to have bilked individual investors, charities, celebrities, banks, hedge funds and pension funds of up to $50bn.