But a defence lawyer said in court papers filed on Monday that Peter Madoff would be left penniless, and a "jobless pariah", adding that his client was remorseful after he learned of his brother's crimes in December 2008.

BBC: Peter Madoff sentenced to 10 years in prison

In Africa and South Asia, discriminatory inheritance customs mean that when a husband dies, his family may grab the property, leaving his widow, who may be infected, penniless as well.

ECONOMIST: Women and HIV

And while one of the first stages of grief for the newly penniless may be blaming our failure on the market, like many others, Livermore eventually placed the blame where it rightly lay on himself and sadly took his own life at the age of 63.

FORBES: Excessive Trading Leads To Death

You'll still be well short of 50 and not exactly penniless.

FORBES: Dow Jones Interactive

And since there were one-family houses selling in Union for a Depression low of a few thousand dollars, he would be able to realize an ambition he had nurtured growing up penniless in a Newark tenement flat: to become an American homeowner.

NPR: Roth Rewrites History with a 'Plot Against America'

From my immigrant grandparents who came to this country penniless and without a word of English, I learned what a privilege it is to be an American.

FORBES: Passing It On