Madoff Trustee Seeks Over $200 Million in Latest Round of Clawback Lawsuits
The trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff's defunct brokerage firm continued his quest to recover funds from investors of Madoff's largest feeder fund, filing five lawsuits seeking over $200 million from five entities. Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee, is seeking over $1 billion from entities who invested with Madoff through Fairfield Sentry. Picard reached a settlement with Fairfield Sentry earlier this year that allowed him to pursue clawback claims against Fairfield customers. Fairfield received over $3 billion during its relationship with Madoff, $1.6 billion of which was subsequently transferred to Fairfield customers. Picard has now filed suits seeking over $1 billion of the $1.6 billion allegedly transferred from Fairfield to investors.
Today's suits seek the return of funds from ABN AMRO Bank, Bank Luxembourg, Lighthouse Investment Partners, Nomura International PLC, and KBC Investments Limited. In total, the latest round of suits seeks nearly $220 million consisting of the following amounts from each entity:
- ABN AMRO Bank - $25,469,129
- Bank Luxembourg - $50,082,651
- Lighthouse Investment Partners - $11,165,251
- Nomura International PLC - $21,449,920
- KBC Investments Limited - $110,000,000
These clawback actions derive their authority from various federal and state laws. Under Sections 550 and 551 of the Bankruptcy Code and various sections of the New York Debtor & Creditor Law, initial and subsequent transfers from a debtor within the six-year time period preceding the filing of a bankruptcy petition are subject to avoidance.
Copies of each complaint can be found here: ABN AMRO, Bank Luxembourg, Lighthouse Investment Partners, Nomura, and KBC.
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