DOJ sends another $378 million back to Madoff victims

The Justice Department has dispatched another $378 million from the Madoff Victim Fund to those who were conned by Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, regarded as the biggest Ponzi scheme ever.

The money to be sent to more than 26,000 victims is the fifth in a series of payments that have totaled more than $2.7 billion and is expected to reach $4 billion.

Madoff for years used his position to "steal billions from his clients," the DOJ said.

He pleaded guilty in 2009 to 11 felonies, "admitting that he had turned his wealth management business into the world's largest Ponzi scheme."

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He was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Of the $4.05 billion that will be made available to victims, approximately $2.2 billion was collected as part of the historic civil forfeiture recovery from the estate of deceased Madoff investor Jeffry Picower. An additional $1.7 billion was collected as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank and civilly forfeited in a parallel action, the government said.

The remaining funds were collected through a civil forfeiture action against investor Carl Shapiro and his family, and from civil and criminal forfeiture actions against Bernard Madoff, Peter Madoff and their co-conspirators.

A total of 65,000 people have submitted claims for reparations.

"It is entirely fitting during this Crime Victims’ Rights Week that the department is able to make the latest distribution from the Madoff Victims Fund," said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. "With the $378 million distributed today, the department has now returned $2.7 billion to Madoff’s victims, allowing them to recover almost 74 percent of their losses. All of this has been made possible by the department’s steadfast commitment to the pursuit of the proceeds of fraud through civil forfeiture."

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman of New York said: "This office continues its efforts to seek justice for victims of history’s largest Ponzi scheme. Today’s additional payments of more than $378 million by this office and the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section represents the fifth in an on-going series of distributions that will leave victims with compensation for more than 73 percent of their losses. But our work is not yet finished, and this extraordinary level of recovery represents this Office’s ongoing and tireless commitment to compensating the victims who suffered as a result of Madoff’s heinous crimes."

The prosecutors said the payouts would not have been accomplished without the efforts of the Criminal Division's Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section in the U.S. attorney's office.