The latest developments in the unwinding of the firm of Bernard L. Madoff by trustee Irving Picard has resulted to a fresh round of payments to the former investment banker's victims following the conviction of the con man's former employees. Bloomberg said that the duped investors will need to await approval from the US Bankruptcy Court in New York to distribute an extra $349 million courtesy of Picard.
In a statement made yesterday, Irving announced that the recent payouts, which will include advances of as much as $500,000 to each victim by the industry-backed entity Securities Investor Protection Corp, has bring the total amount of payouts to a whopping $6 billion. Businessweek said that the latest distribution would the fourth since Madoff was arrested in 2008.
Picard said in the statement, "Our commitment is simple: to recover the maximum amount of funds stolen in the Madoff Ponzi scheme and to distribute these funds to their rightful owners as quickly as possible."
SIPC president Stephen Harbeck also commented and said, "We hope that trend continues, and is even accelerated, as the remaining legal disputes are resolved."
Businessweek said two months ago, Picard was able to reach an accord on behalf of Madoff's victims with JPMorgan Chase & Co worth $325 million for the bank's alleged negligence in failing to recognize the fraud, subsequently benefiting from Madoff's scheme in the process. The news outlet also added that JPMorgan also agreed to add $218 million more in payments to settle two class-action lawsuits in relation to Madoff's scheme that were filed with the trustee's assistance.
Picard was quoted as saying that he is hoping to return all money that is due to the victims, and will pursue a total of $3.5 billion from UBS AG, HSBC Holdings Plc and UniCredit SpA, whom he claimed of also benefiting from Madoff's $17.5 billion Ponzi scheme. The banks had since denied Picard's allegations.
