New count shows Madoff scammed $21.2 billion, nearly double the earlier figure
Court-appointed liquidator Irving Picard says Bernard Madoff's Ponzi investment scam reached $21.2 billion, nearly twice as much as earlier estimates of about $13 billion. This is what investors put into the fund over the amounts they actually withdrew. Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence for fraud. The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) has approved compensation claims of $4.43 billion and agreed to pay back $534 million, exceeding all advances paid by them since it was established in 1970. Picard and SIPC have now received 15,974 claims from people who invested with Madoff or his feeder funds. Picard has identified 2,335 investors who put more into Madoff's funds than they pulled out. He is liquidating Madoff's assets and suing Madoff’s relatives and associates to try to recover the huge profits they made. There are also people such as Jeffry Picower, who died of a heart attack this week, who withdrew more than they paid in. Because Madoff didn't invest their money, these individuals were technically stealing other investors' money and so Picard plans to pursue "clawback" lawsuits against them. Picard called Picower’s death "tragic", but said he would pursue funds Picower should not have withdrawn. Read more: AFP, Washington Post
Become an Insider