Baker Hostetler New York partners Irving H. Picard, David J. Sheehan and Deborah H. Renner were featured in “JPMorgan Hid Doubts on Madoff, Documents Suggest,” which appeared in The New York Times on February 4, 2011.
A December lawsuit filed by Picard—the court-appointed trustee for the liquidation—claims that bank documents indicate senior executives at JPMorgan Chase had doubts about Bernard L. Madoff’s investment business more than 18 months before his arrest, yet continued to do business with him.
The suit was under seal until this week, and the public is now getting its first look at the documentation Picard used to assert $6.4 billion in claims against the bank.
At the time of Madoff’s arrest, Picard’s suit noted, his Chase accounts remained active as he deposited and withdrew billions in investor funds—but by then the bank had withdrawn a significant amount of the funds it originally invested with Madoff-related funds.
Sheehan, who serves as counsel to the trustee, asserted at the time of the suit’s filing that Madoff “would not have been able to commit this massive Ponzi scheme without this bank.”
Renner, who also represents the trustee, agreed. “Incredibly, the bank’s top executives were warned in blunt terms about speculation that Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme, yet the bank appears to have been concerned only with protecting its own investments,” she noted.
In a statement, JPMorgan Chase told the Times that it will “vigorously” challenge the claims in court.
The article provided further detail into the suit’s allegations regarding the bank’s relationship with Madoff.