After Bernie Madoff admitted to masterminding the largest Ponzi scheme in history and bilking thousands of investors out of their cash, he was punished with a sentence that made it likely he would die in federal prison — 150 years.

Now, a decade into his time, at the age of 81, Madoff is seeking to have his sentence commuted by President Trump. He has filed a petition for clemency with the Justice Department, according to its website.

It was not clear when Madoff filed his petition or what arguments he is making for the request. The Justice Department declined to comment. The department’s website said that information in its online clemency database was last updated July 1 and that Madoff’s request, which was first reported by ­CNBC, was still pending on that date.

Petitions for clemency, which include pardons and sentence commutations, are sent to the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the Justice Department. The office reviews petitions and makes recommendations on their merits to the president, who has constitutional authority to grant pardons and make final decisions on cases.

As president, Trump has increasingly wielded pardons as a way to push back against a justice system he frequently has called unfair. He has granted clemency to several prominent public figures whose politics resonate with him, like Joe Arpaio, a former sheriff in Arizona; and I. Lewis Libby Jr., former aide to Dick Cheney.

It was not clear whether Trump would consider Madoff’s application for clemency. The White House referred requests for comment to the Justice Department.

Years before he became president, Trump expressed contempt for Madoff in an interview with The New York Times Magazine in 2009.

Trump told the Times that he had met the notorious financier several times, both at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s private, members-only resort in Palm Beach, Fla., and at Trump’s nearby golf course.

At one point, Madoff, who once owned a waterfront mansion in Palm Beach, asked Trump to invest in his fund, Trump said.

“I said jokingly, ‘No thanks, I can lose my own money,’ ’’ Trump said.

In 2008, in an interview with CNN, Trump referred to Madoff as a “sleazebag’’ and “a total crook.’’

Madoff’s former lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, who represented Madoff during his criminal case, said that he had no information about the clemency request.

Madoff has been incarcerated at a federal prison in Butner, N.C., since July 2009, after he pleaded guilty to 11 counts of financial crimes, including fraud, money laundering, perjury, and theft. He received the maximum possible sentence.

He was accused of using his investment firm to steal billions from his clients, cheating many of them out of their life savings. Rather than investing their money, Madoff spent it on family and friends. He then took in money from additional investors to pay earlier ones and cover up his fraud.

In 2008, Madoff told his sons, both of whom have since died, that his investment advisory firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, had committed massive fraud. His family notified federal agents, who arrested him the next day.