New York Times: It's Thankless, but He Decides Madoff Claims
New York partner Irving Picard, who is currently serving as the court-appointed trustee under SIPA in the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, was profiled in a May 29, 2009, New York Times article, "It's Thankless, but He Decides Madoff Claims," which appeared on the front page of the business section.
According to the article, as claims flow in from thousands of victims of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, Picard and his legal team, led by New York partner David Sheehan, are quietly making life-shaping decisions every day. They decide who will be paid quickly, who will be paid eventually, who will not be paid at all and who will be asked to pay back money they got years ago. As recently as April 17, only 30 claims had been processed, out of more than 8,800 filed. By May 28, with more than 50 people now working on the process, that number was 251, up from 139 10 days ago, according to Picard's team.
"It has taken us awhile to get to this point," Picard acknowledged. "But I think we are getting into a rhythm now where we can move things along more quickly." As of May 28, Picard had verified customer losses totaling $759.5 million in claims. Most applicants so far have qualified for the maximum benefit, bringing the Securities Investors Protection Corporation's (the industry-financed agency chartered by Congress to oversee brokerage firm failures) total commitment to $122.1 million.
In addition to handling the claims, Picard is also seeking to recover funds to be, eventually, distributed to Madoff's clients. In recent days, seeking to recover more than $10.1 billion, Picard has sued several prominent Madoff victims, accusing them of being willing beneficiaries of the fraud. He has settled with two offshore hedge funds and gathered a total of $1.25 billion for victims, so far. Picard has also created a hardship program to speed compensation to victims facing serious financial emergencies, like the loss of medical care or foreclosure. In the first two weeks of that program, 59 out of 144 hardship requests have been approved, according to the article.
To read the full article from the New York Times website, click here.