Madoff victims to get $2.48B
Bernard Madoff’s victims will soon receive $2.48 billion (U.S.) to help cover their losses, by far the largest payout since the swindler’s massive fraud was uncovered nearly four years ago.
Checks ranging from $1,784 to $526.9 million were mailed on Wednesday to 1,230 former customers of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, according to Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating the firm.
The latest payout more than triples the total recovery to $3.63 billion, Picard said on Thursday, adding it will result in 1,074 customers with valid claims, or 44 per cent of the total number, being fully repaid.
Customers had previously recovered $1.15 billion, including sums committed by the Securities Investor Protection Corp, which helps customers of failed brokerages. The average payout in Wednesday’s distribution was $2.02 million.
According to a Sept. 13 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the largest valid customer claims are $1.57 billion by Optimal Multiadvisors Ltd, part of Spain’s Banco Santander SA ; and $741 million by M-Invest Ltd, a “feeder” fund created by Switzerland’s Union Bancaire Privee.
Madoff was arrested in December 2008 and pleaded guilty three months later to running a giant Ponzi scheme. Now 74, he is serving a 150-year sentence.