Madoff Trustee Revises Fictitious Statements to $52B
Bernard Madoff
Jin Lee/Bloomberg
Bernard Madoff, president and founder of Bernard L. Mandoff Investment Securities LLC, walks out of Manhattan federal court in New York.
Bernard Madoff, president and founder of Bernard L. Mandoff Investment Securities LLC, walks out of Manhattan federal court in New York. Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg
The liquidator of Bernard Madoff’s brokerage revised the con man’s fictitious customer statements to $52 billion from about $65 billion as claims were withdrawn from the liquidation proceeding.
The new number appears on the website of trustee Irving Picard. Picard so far has paid $325.5 million to investors who lost money in the Ponzi scheme holding approved claims of $7.3 billion, according to madofftrustee.com. The Securities Investor Protection Corp. has committed $797.8 million to Madoff investors, it said. The $65 billion was calculated on Nov. 30, 2008, before Madoff’s arrest.
In the three years since his appointment, Picard has raised about $8.7 billion to pay claims, mostly through settlements with investors whom he sued, accusing them of participating in the fraud. About $6 billion of that amount is tied up in court challenges, including $5 billion from Jeffry Picower’s estate and $1 billion from Tremont Group Holdings Inc., according to the website.
Picard spent $434 million liquidating the estate through September, including fees for himself and his law firm of more than $200 million.
Picard, who has filed 1,000 lawsuits seeking $100 billion from banks such as HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), has seen more than $28 billion of his claims tossed by district judges. He is currently appealing the rulings. His $59 billion suit against UniCredit SpA (UCG) and Bank Medici AG founder Sonja Kohn is being reviewed by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff.
Madoff, 73, who pleaded guilty to charges of masterminding the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, is serving a 150-year term in a federal prison in North Carolina.
The main case is Securities Investor Protection Corp. v. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, 08-ap-1789, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
To contact the reporter on this story: Linda Sandler in New York at lsandler@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Pickering at jpickering@bloomberg.net.
Rate this Page