Free Republic

The court-appointed trustee recovering money for Bernard L. Madoff's victims is preparing a wave of new lawsuits seeking to wrest funds away from investors who also were duped by the Ponzi scheme. In an interview, Irving Picard said he could wind up suing about half the estimated 2,000 individual investors he has called "net winners" from their dealings with Mr. Madoff. Such investors withdrew more from Mr. Madoff's firm than the amount of principal they invested. "The people who made money, who got more, have made money at the expense of the people who didn't," said Mr. Picard, who has...

Hundreds of victims of Ponzi scamster Bernie Madoff are spitting mad at Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee of Madoff's estate, over what they claim is the capricious way he is moving to clawback money. The group of 350 victims claims: * Picard -- whose job is to collect as much of the $23 billion lost during the decades-long Madoff fraud -- is demanding repayment from victims facing an "undue hardship," even though he promised not to do so. * The trustee refuses to speak with them when they reach out to him with questions or problems * They are being...