The recovery of funds from the Madoff investment scandal has been underway since the scandal broke in December 2008. That month, recovery trustee Irving Picard received funds from the Bank of New York account where Bernard Madoff held new investments into his Ponzi scheme. As it has been concluded that no legitimate investments were made on the investors' behalf for at least the last 12 years of operation, recovery has proceeded on a "money in/money out" basis. Investors are entitled to receive no more than the nominal cash amounts that they paid in and did not subsequently withdraw, without regard to inflation, interest, opportunity cost or the false statements that Madoff provided them.[1] Those statements combined to a total balance of approximately $64 billion,[2] while the admitted claims amount to $19.5 billion. As of March 2024, the trustee had recovered $14.7 billion toward these claims through legal action against Madoff associates, feeder funds and beneficiaries of the scheme, and had made fifteen distributions to investors.[3] Action by the Department of Justice has recovered an additional $4 billion.[4]
Madoff provided a confidential list of his assets and those of his firm (BLMIS) to the SEC on December 31, 2008, which was subsequently disclosed on March 13, 2009, in a court filing. Madoff had no Individual Retirement Accounts, no 401(k), no Keogh plan, no other pension plan and no annuities. He owned less than a combined $200,000 in securities in Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Fidelity Investments, Bear Stearns, and M&T Bank. No offshore or Swiss bank accounts were listed.[5] [6] The SEC withheld further information about the assets to prevent them from being seized by foreign regulators and foreign creditors.[7][8]
- ^ United States Securities and Exchange Commission Office of the Inspector General (September 16, 2011). "Investigation of Conflict of Interest Arising from Former General Counsel's Participation in Madoff-Related Matters" (PDF). United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
- ^ "Madoff Victims Get $1.2 Billion in Sixth Ponzi Scheme Payout". BloombergBusiness. December 4, 2015. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
- ^ "Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC – Case Details". SIPC. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
- ^ "Justice Department Announces Total Distribution of Over $4 Billion to Victims of Madoff Ponzi Scheme". Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs. September 28, 2022. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
- ^ "Madoff Finance" (PDF). New York Post. December 31, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 17, 2009. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
- ^ Madoff assets worth more than $820 million – Newsday.com Archived March 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "ABC News: Madoff Set to Disclose List of Holdings". Abcnews.go.com. December 17, 2008. Retrieved April 26, 2009.
- ^ Scheer, David (January 2, 2009). "Madoff's assets to be kept secret". Business.smh.com.au. Retrieved April 26, 2009.