Madoff victims to receive over $378M more in restitutions

Rose Weldon
Victims of Bernard Madoff, who was behind the largest Ponzi scheme in American history, will see over $378 million distributed by the Department of Justice.  (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

More than $378 million will be further distributed to victims of former Roslyn resident Bernard Madoff’s financial crimes, the Department of Justice has announced.

Madoff, 81, who organized the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. financial history and lost $18 billion for investors in his Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities firm, has been held in a federal prison in Butler, N.C., since he pleaded guilty to 11 counts of financial crimes in 2009. The list of his wrongdoings included fraud, money laundering, perjury and theft.

The federally run Madoff Victim Fund has began its fifth distribution of approximately $378.5 million in funds forfeited to the U.S. government in connection with Madoff’s fraud scheme, bringing the total distributed to over $2.7 billion to nearly 38,000 victims worldwide, according to an April 20 statement from the Justice Department.

The department said restitutions will be sent to more than 26,000 victims across the globe, bringing their total recovery to 73.65 percent, and will eventually return over $4 billion to victims as compensation for losses they suffered from the collapse of Madoff’s firm. More than 65,000 petitions have been received from victims in 136 countries, it added.

The distribution will not be the last of its kind, according to U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman of the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.

“This office continues its efforts to seek justice for victims of history’s largest Ponzi scheme,” Berman said. “But our work is not yet finished, and this extraordinary level of recovery represents this office’s ongoing and tireless commitment to compensating the victims who suffered as a result of Madoff’s heinous crimes.”

In recent months, Madoff, who the Bureau of Prisons confirmed has 18 months to live, has sought a compassionate release from prison due to health issues.

Madoff’s sons, Andrew and Mark, who grew up in Roslyn, were involved in the firm and told the authorities about their father’s crimes in 2008, have both since died: Andrew in 2014 due to mantle cell lymphoma and Mark in 2010 through suicide by hanging. Their mother Ruth has mostly stayed out of the public eye since her husband’s sentence began.

 

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