Picard

It’s been a long time coming, but it looks like Madoff claimants and the U.S. Postal Service both will get a bit of a boost now that Madoff liquidation trustee Irving Picard is going to begin mailing out an initial interim pro rata distribution of about $312 million. 

Orlan Johnson, board chairman of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (“SIPC”), which maintains a special reserve fund authorized by Congress to help investors at failed brokerage firms, issued the following statement today: 

There are numerous winners, and many losers, stemming from today’s major decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the Madoff bankruptcy case upholding Madoff trustee Irving Picard's "net equity" determination.

None of the winners is as big a winner, however, as Irving Picard’s lead lawyer, David. J. Sheehan. 

Here's what we know about Sheehan:

The unanimous decision by a three judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upholding Madoff trustee Irving Picard’s interpretation of “net equity” is going to have significant implications for investors – including the Wilpon family – who lost money in the Madoff Ponzi scheme. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has affirmed a bankruptcy court decision that upheld Madoff trustee Irving Picard’s determination as to how to calculate “net equity” was “legally sound.” 

More to follow....

Cohmad Securities Corporation, a registered  broker-dealer, has an interesting provenance. It was founded by Bernard Madoff and his friend and former neighbor Sonny Cohn, apparently to recruit investors to Madoff’s investment company (“BLMIS”). To hear Madoff trustee Irving Picard tell it, Cohmad, a compound of the names Cohn and Madoff, provided a “central lifeline” to BLMIS by referring investors to Madoff.

Madoff liquidation trustee Irving Picard updated the claims status in the case as of the end of July. Here’s the newest information: 

It looks as if Irving H. Picard, who as trustee is liquidating Bernard L. Madoff’s investment securities business (“BLMIS”), will have another billion dollars (!) to return to those scammed by Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.

Thousands of investors worldwide lost significant sums of money in the Madoff fraud without ever having set up an account or directly investing with Madoff’s company, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (“BLMIS”). Rather, they invested directly or indirectly in feeder funds, which, in turn, invested with BLMIS.