Madoff victims lose out on money
TEXT OF STORY
Bob Moon: Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff is facing sentencing today in a New York courtroom. Federal prosecutors want the max — 150 years; Madoff’s lawyers say 12 is more than enough.
Meantime, his thousands of victims — from Hollywood stars to middle-class teachers and farmers who lost their life savings — want their money back. By last count, they had invested roughly $65 billion with him. But as Ashley Milne-Tyte reports, they shouldn’t count on getting much of it back.
ASHLEY MILNE-TYTE: For one thing, given Madoff’s accounting shenanigans, that $65 billion number could be wildly inaccurate. Jerry Reisman is a lawyer for some of Madoff’s victims. He says Madoff’s liquidated assets will only cover a fraction of investors’ losses. Like the retired doctor from Flori who recently consulted Reisman.
JERRY REISMAN: He had about $11 million with Madoff. Lost that, is forced to sell his home and has taken a job as a security guard at Publix.
A supermarket chain. The Securities Investor Protection Corporation, or SIPC, works to recover investor funds when a brokerage firm fails. Reisman says it’s going after some of the Madoff feeder funds.
REISMAN: But they themselves lost fortunes, so it’s going to be very difficult to procure any great recovery on behalf of these victims.
Madoff investors have until July 2nd to register a claim with SIPC. Depending on the size and type of their investments, they could get back a maximum of $500,000.
In New York I’m Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
