THE LIQUIDATOR of Bernard Madoff’s brokerage has revised his fictitious customer statements to $52 billion from about $65 billion as claims were withdrawn from the liquidation proceeding.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. Mr 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 has committed $797.8 million to Madoff investors, it said. The $65 billion was calculated on November 30th, 2008, before Madoff’s arrest.
In the three years since his appointment, Mr 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 is tied up in court challenges, including $5 billion from Jeffry Picower’s estate and $1 billion from Tremont Group Holdings, according to the website.
Mr Picard spent $434 million liquidating the estate through September, including fees for himself and his law firm of more than $200 million. Mr Picard, who has filed 1,000 lawsuits seeking $100 billion from banks such as HSBC Holdings and JPMorgan Chase, has seen more than $28 billion of his claims tossed by district judges. He is currently appealing the rulings. – (Bloomberg)
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