Financial Times – The trustee charged with tracking down money for victims of Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50bn Ponzi scheme will target big investors – such as hedge funds – that pulled "substantial amounts" of "false profits" out of the broker’s operation.

Under federal and New York law, investors who withdrew either principal or profits in the 90 days before Mr Madoff’s December 11 arrest are particularly vulnerable to so-called "clawbacks", but the trustee will be able to reach back up to six years in some cases.

With billions in claims and only about $940m in recovered assets, Irving Picard, the trustee, must rely on money from investors who cashed out early as a source of restitution.

He and David Sheehan, a lawyer working with him, told a creditor meeting last week that they intended to focus on large investors, particularly if they had suspicions about Mr Madoff’s operation.

Mr Sheehan cited the example of "someone who may have been well informed and may have had red flags".

Read Complete Article

Tags: assets, bernard madoff, billions, creditor, david sheehan, false-profits, financial times, investors, lawyer, money, red-flags, restitution, six-years, substantial amounts, suspicions, trustee

MSN Money UK – Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC was examined at least eight times in 16 years by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulators, who often came armed with suspicions, the Wall Street Journal said.

SEC officials followed up on emails from a New York hedge fund that described Bernard Madoff’s business practices as "highly unusual," the paper said.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the industry-run watchdog for brokerage firms, reported in 2007 that parts of the firm appeared to have no customers, according to the paper.

Madoff was interviewed at least twice by the SEC, the paper said, adding that regulators never came close to uncovering the alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme that investigators now believe began in the 1970s.

Read Complete Article

Tags: 1970s, bernard madoff, brokerage firms, business practices, eight times, financial industry regulatory authority, investigators, investment-securities, money uk, regulators, sec officials, securities-and-exchange, securities-and-exchange-commission, suspicions, wall street, wall-street-journal, watchdog