|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By: Ellen Cans
On Monday, federal authorities announced that the final payments will go out to Bernie Madoff victims from the compensation fund. As reported by the NY Post, the 10th and final payment of $131.4 million to victims of the notorious Ponzi scheme paid by The Madoff Victim Fund will be distributed to over 23,000 victims around the globe, as per the Manhattan US Attorney’s office. The fund had been set up by the Department of Justice over a decade ago to repay people swindled by Madoff.
The total amount doled out by the compensation fund over the years was more than $4.3 billion—paid out to roughly 40,930 of Madoff’s victims spanning 127 counties. Feds said the massive total payout recouped a great majority, or 93.71%, of the losses incurred. “The Criminal Division, through its Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS), is proud to administer the department’s remission program to compensate victims using forfeited assets,” announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent S. Wible, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The unprecedented scope and complexity of the Madoff remission process shows the power of forfeiture to recover assets and to compensate victims — a primary goal of the department’s Asset Forfeiture Program.“
The compensation fund, which totaled over $4 billion used to pay back victims, consisted of ill-gotten gains that Madoff and his co-conspirators were forced to fork over by the Manhattan US attorney’s office. Also, roughly $2.2 billion of the compensation funds were collected from the estate of a deceased Madoff investor, Jeffry Picower. Another $1.7 billion came as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, as per prosecutors.
Madoff died behind bars in 2021, of kidney disease and hypertension at age 82, while serving out a 150-year prison sentence, after pleading guilty to 11 financial crimes — including fraud, money-laundering and perjury. It was said to be the biggest stock fraud in history. Per the NY Post, the scam was discovered some 16 years ago during the financial crisis of the late 2000s. In the 1990s, Madoff started collecting money from investors, family and friends through his wealth management company Bernie L. Madoff Investment Securities with the promise he’d invest it. He later admitted, at the trial in 2009, that he never did invest those funds.
The scheme’s victims included charities and retirees who entrusted their life savings, and funds for New York University, the International Olympic Committee as well as well-know people such as filmmaker Steven Spielberg, former Disney studio chief Jeffrey Katsenberg, Mets owner Fred Wilpon, legendary Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, television host Larry King, and Hollywood actor Kevin Bacon. Most of the victims were small investors who lost less than $500,000 in the fraud, per federal prosecutors.
“Today’s distribution represents an unprecedented conclusion of victim compensation from civil forfeiture actions related to the Madoff scheme with more than $4 billion repaid to over 40,000 victims,” said Assistant Director in Charge James E. Dennehy of the FBI New York Field Office.
“This Office has never stopped pursuing justice for victims of history’s largest Ponzi scheme,” said Acting Manhattan US Attorney Edward Kim in a statement. The DOJ “is committed to protecting and assisting victims of crime, no matter how long it takes and no matter how complicated the endeavor,” Kim added.
