Madoff victim fund stands at 140m as the hunt goes on

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THE SECURITIES Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) said yesterday a total of $231m (£140m) has so far been committed to pay for claims from victims of Bernard Madoff’s fraud, with a further $2.74bn “authorised for potential future recovery.” 

The group, which was established by the US Congress in 1970 to help swindled investors, said that the amount exceeded its previous 11 largest liquidations.

SIPC and Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee winding down Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, said it had accepted 543 claims for payout so far.

The amount to be paid averages $425,414 per claim. Each customer can receive up to a maximum of $500,000 under the law.

But how much of the $2.74bn investors will ever see will depend on how much the trustee can recover from his global search for assets tied to the Madoff fraud.

A Manhattan federal judge sentenced Madoff to a prison term of 150 years on Monday at an emotional hearing where defrauded investors testified to their financial ruin.

The once-respected financier was arrested in December and pleaded guilty in March to a decades-long fraud that US prosecutors said drew in as much as $65bn.