Larry King was among those who were victimized in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, but the veteran journalist said that he got his money back from the incident.King told "Extra" that he and his wife invested $4 million, but took out $3.3 million, leaving $700,000 with Madoff and were fortunate enough to get it back from the Madoff estate and from the government.
"We got $200,000 back from the Madoff estate, and we got $500,000 back from the government for taxes we paid on stock we never had," King told "Extra." "We got it back, but a lot of people sure didn't."
King said that at one point, his wife Shawn wanted to invest everything they had with Madoff but King decided to stay with his investment people.
Madoff didn't make investments, but used money he received from new investors to pay previous ones. The Wall Street Scammer's wife Ruth recently revealed on CBS' "60 Minutes" that she and Bernard tried to kill themselves after he confessed.
In 2009, Madoff, 73, pleaded guilty for fraud and began serving a 150-year prison sentence for running the estimated $20 billion dollar scam, which marks the biggest investment fraud in U.S. history.
King told "Extra" on Thursday that he thought that Ruth had appeared on "60 Minutes" to help her daughter-in-law sell a book on her husband, Mark Madoff, who hung himself with a dog leash last year on the anniversary of his father's arrest.
Kevin Bacon and his actress-wife Kyra Sedgewick were among the scores of customers who were swindled. Though he wouldn't specify the amount of money he invested, Bacon said that he had lost "years and years" of work from the scandal.
In December, Larry King's CNN talk show "Larry King Live" broadcast its final program after 25 years on the air. His time slot was filled by British host Piers Morgan's new talk series in January.
King, 77, said in June 2010 he planned to end his run as the host of "Larry King Live" in order to spend more time with his family but said he would still host specials for CNN.
At the time of his last show, King ranked third in his time slot behind Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, the Associated Press said, adding that "Larry King Live" drew about 700,000 viewers in 2010, down from an average of 1.64 nightly viewers in 1998, the show's peak year.
King has interviewed major celebrities and international leaders, such as U.S. President Barak Obama, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, singer Barbra Streisand and real estate mogul and reality star Donald Trump, who appeared on the finale.
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