Madoff Bankruptcy Trustee Prepares to Sue Investors
According to a Wall Street Journal story, the bankruptcy trustee charged with recovering money for the victims of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme is preparing to sue investors who profited from their Madoff investments.
Irving Picard, the Chapter 11 bankruptcy trustee for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, said that about half of the 2,000 investors he calls “net winners” could be sued to recover a portion of their Madoff investments, which would go into a fund for redistribution to other victims.
The so-called “clawback lawsuits” must be filed by December 2010. To date, Picard has filed more than a dozen civil suits seeking more than $15 billion in total from Madoff’s brother, sons, investment firms with ties to Madoff and other wealthy investors who profited from their investments with the convicted Ponzi scheme operator. He has already collected about $1.5 billion in assets.
Picard has already sent hundreds of letters to investors asking them to “resolve the matter amicably.” Not many have taken him up on his offer. South Florida resident Adele Fox is one of those investors who says she received a letter from Picard asking her to repay over $690,000. She told the WSJ that she had all her money tied up with Madoff, which she thought totaled over $3 million. She said if Picard comes after her for the money, which she claims is all she has left, she will be penniless.
Greg Gilbert
Keith Maynard
