Any Madoff Money Will Be a Long Time Coming

Justice Department brags about wave of arrests

(NEWSER) - Federal authorities have charged more than 500 people with various forms of fraud during a 3.5-month probe, in what Eric Holder today termed the largest crackdown on scam artists in US history. Of those, 343 were criminally charged, with the defendants accused of everything from running Ponzi schemes to pump-and-dump scams to foreign-exchange frauds. Another 189 have been civilly charged, according to the Wall Street Journal . More»

Bankruptcy trustee says fraudster's wife received more than she'll admit to

(NEWSER) - The trustee in the Bernie Madoff case sued the swindler's wife today to demand the return of $44 million to bilked investors, Newsday reports. The complaint doesn't allege criminal activity by Ruth Madoff but says she directly received funds from her husband’s multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme. Ruth Madoff gave up all but $2.5 million of her assets in a forfeiture deal last month, but she's not protected from lawsuits. More»

(NEWSER) - A high-flying New York lawyer who orchestrated a Ponzi scheme to fund his lavish lifestyle has been sentenced to 20 years in jail, the New York Times reports. Marc Dreier pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy and securities fraud relating to the scam, which bilked hedge funds and other investors of some $400 million. Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 145 years, just 5 years short of the 150 years Bernard Madoff was slapped with. More»

(NEWSER) - Investigators have only recovered $1.2 billion of the $13.2 billion bilked from investors by Bernard Madoff since 1995, reports the Wall Street Journal. Eligible victims may be compensated up to $500,000 by the Securities Investor Protection Corp., but the rest will have to come from whatever investigators can find. Trustees say Madoff hasn't provided "meaningful cooperation" to help them locate the vanished loot. More»

Funds address fraction of 9,000 claims: trustee

(NEWSER) - It's a start. Some of Bernie Madoff's clients will get back at least a portion of the money that he stole. Trustee Irving Picard says he expects to approve at least $100 million of investor claims—mere hundreds out of nearly 9,000 filed claims—by May 25, Bloomberg reports. Picard has recovered $1 billion and sued for another $10 billion from funds that withdrew money from Madoff accounts before his arrest. More»