The settlement is expected to total $7.2 billion and is by far the largest related to Madoff's case, according to the Wall Street Journal. This reportedly raises the amount to pay back the victims to $9.8 billion.
Picard sued Picower, the single biggest beneficiary of Madoff's fraud, in May 2009. Picower began investing in Madoff’s Ponzi scheme (it's almost an insult to Ponzi to compare him to Madoff) in the late 1970s. He died a newsworthy death last October, drowning in his Palm Beach, Florida, swimming pool while having a heart attack. He was only 67 but suffered from Parkinson's disease and had heart problems, said a family attorney, who described Picower's health as poor. Foul play was ruled out; it's interesting it was even considered.
Picower is supposed to have invested $619.4 million and withdrew $7.8 billion from Madman Madoff. What I haven't found addressed is what exactly is Picower guilty of? Being smart? Sensing something fishy and pulling out, while others kept piling it on? Oh, but wait, here it is: Picower was accused of getting out more money than he invested (funny - isn't that why anyone invests money? To get more money than is invested?).
Picard has filed several lawsuits against many banks, feeder funds, investors and many others who benefited from Madoff’s decades long fraud, Marketwatch.com reported. Again, I see the need to compensate victims, but if I had invested with Madoff and decided something was wrong -- the returns too good to be true, say -- and pulled out a profit, I'd really hate and resist having to lose all my money for his crimes.
Yahoo News reported that Picower's widow, Barbara, was commended by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara "for agreeing to turn over this truly staggering sum, which really was always other people's money." Bharara called the forfeiture the largest in Justice Department history and a "game changer" for those swindled by Madoff.
"We will return every penny received from almost 35 years of investing with Bernard Madoff," Barbara Picower said in a statement. "I believe the Madoff Ponzi scheme was deplorable, and I am deeply saddened by the tragic impact it continues to have on the lives of its victims. It is my hope that this settlement will ease that suffering."
The settlement means roughly half of the $20 billion that investors entrusted to Madoff has now been recovered, authorities said, according to Yahoo News.
"The $7.2 billion eclipses by far the deals reached with other defendants sued by Irving Picard ... The next largest — $625 million — was announced earlier this month" in a settlement with a Massachusetts businessman and philanthropist, said Yahoo News.
Good stuff for the victims, but consider people like Willard Foxton, a British journalist, who has to carry on without his father, who committed suicide after losing his life savings to Madoff. Other deaths have resulted for which Madoff is 100 percent culpable, including the suicide of his own son.
"We will return every penny received from almost 35 years of investing with Bernard Madoff," Barbara Picower said in a statement. "I believe the Madoff Ponzi scheme was deplorable, and I am deeply saddened by the tragic impact it continues to have on the lives of its victims. It is my hope that this settlement will ease that suffering."
The settlement means roughly half of the $20 billion that investors entrusted to Madoff has now been recovered, authorities said, according to Yahoo News.
"The $7.2 billion eclipses by far the deals reached with other defendants sued by Irving Picard ... The next largest — $625 million — was announced earlier this month" in a settlement with a Massachusetts businessman and philanthropist, said Yahoo News.
Good stuff for the victims, but consider people like Willard Foxton, a British journalist, who has to carry on without his father, who committed suicide after losing his life savings to Madoff. Other deaths have resulted for which Madoff is 100 percent culpable, including the suicide of his own son.
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