March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Some of the assets of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, the now-defunct firm of convicted fraud mastermind Bernard Madoff, may be in Gibraltar, according to the trustee liquidating the company.

Irving Picard, appointed by the Securities Investor Protection Corp. to unwind Madoff’s business, is seeking to hire attorneys at the law firm Attias & Levy to represent him in the British territory as he seeks to recover property, according to a filing today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. The filing didn’t specify what the assets were.

“The trustee has become aware of assets that he believes to be customer property located within that country and requires counsel to pursue,” their recovery, according to the filing.

Picard, a lawyer with Baker Hostetler LLP in New York, is responsible for conducting an investigation of the Madoff firm’s assets and conduct. He is tasked with collecting as many assets as possible to pay back creditors of Madoff’s trading firm. Picard said previously he had recovered about $946.4 million in cash and securities for Madoff customers.

Madoff, 70, pleaded guilty on March 12 to defrauding investors of as much as $65 billion in a classic Ponzi scheme. He faces 150 years behind bars for using money from new investors to pay off old ones in a global fraud that ran from at least the early 1990s. Prosecutors are seeking to seize more than $100 million in assets from him and his wife, Ruth.

Manhattan Prison

Bernard Madoff is being held in a maximum security prison in New York until he’s sentenced in June. Ruth Madoff hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing.

The Madoff family claimed a net worth of $826 million as of Dec. 31, according to court papers. The majority of that sum was Madoff’s stake in the liquidating brokerage, which he valued at $700 million.

Madoff creditors may file claims until July 2. Customers needed to submit claim forms before March 4 to be paid “out of customer property,” according to Picard’s Web site.

Kevin McCue, a spokesman for Picard, didn’t respond to a phone call or e-mail seeking comment.

A hearing on the request to hire Attias & Levy is scheduled for March 30 before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in Manhattan. Partners at the firm will charge an hourly rate of 200 pounds ($281) for their work for Picard, according to court papers.

The Bankruptcy Court case is Securities Investor Protection Corp. v. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, 08-01789, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Scinta in New York bankruptcy court at cscinta@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 16, 2009 16:34 EDT