SIPC

A jumble of a New York Times article this morning paints Stephen P. Harbeck, the head of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation and the person, with bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard, in charge of sorting out the Madoff mess, as being “under attack.” Heavens, Harbeck’s gained 10 pounds this year because he doesn’t have the time to exercise! 

At the end of last week, Madoff liquidation trustee Irving Picard filed a 53 page interim report with the bankruptcy court in Manhattan overseeing the process. The report is available at http://www.madofftrustee.com/press/TrusteeInterimReport_090709.pdf.

Irving Picard, the trustee for the SIPA liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC and Bernard Madoff, pending in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, has filed a first application for interim compensation for services performed by the trustee from December 15, 2008 through April 30, 2009 in the amount of $759,228.75. The trustee suggested that 20 percent of that amount should be deferred for now.

The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (“SIPC”) and Irving H. Picard, the court-appointed trustee for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (“BLMIS”) have announced that 8,000 customer claims have been filed and that $231 million in SIPC funds have been committed to 543 claims that have been allowed to date. Those 543 claims are in the total amount of $2.972 billion; $2.741 billion of that amount exceeds the statutory limit of SIPA protection.