(Bloomberg News) The trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff's defunct investment firm said he has recovered more than $7.6 billion for investors in the Ponzi scheme against fees of $175.5 million requested since Madoff's arrest.
Irving Picard, who has filed more than 1,000 suits seeking money for the con man's investors, said in February he was halfway to recovering the $20 billion in principal lost when Madoff was arrested in 2008. In a court filing April 18, he put the recovery $2.4 billion lower, at about 44% of principal lost. Most of the difference is the amount of forfeited funds held by the U.S. Attorney, which has been disputed in court.
Picard gave the new numbers as part of a fee request to a bankruptcy judge, seeking approval for $43.2 million for four months' work by himself and his law firm, Baker & Hostetler LLP. Amanda Remus, a spokeswoman for Picard, declined to comment.
Picard's biggest recovery was a $7.2 billion settlement he and U.S. prosecutors reached in December with the estate of Jeffry Picower, a Madoff investor who died in 2009. Of that amount, about $5 billion went to Picard, and $2.2 billion to the U.S., he said in the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.
Picard said in March he had recovered $2.6 billion for Madoff customers, with $5 billion to be added from his share of the Picower settlement as well as the money forfeited to the government, pending the outcome of court challenges to both agreements.
Unpaid Money
"We anticipate that our position will ultimately prevail," Picard said. Counting all those amounts, he said he had recovered "approximately one-half of the monies that we estimate were stolen in the Madoff fraud and remain unpaid."
Recoveries could rise if Picard's suits against feeder funds succeed, the trustee said in March.
A settlement with Boston philanthropist Carl Shapiro brought in $550 million, and a deal with Switzerland's Union Bancaire Privee fetched $470 million.
Picard's law firm said it spent 7,086 hours on investigations at a cost of $3.1 million from October 1 to January 31. Administration consumed 7,033 hours, and cost $2.1 million. The trustee's case against JPMorgan Chase & Co. took 1,971 hours, while a case against the owners of the New York Mets required 1,660 hours and customer claims took 4,837 hours, according to the filing.