Irving Picard Takes a Very Aggressive Approach Towards Long-Time Madoff Investors

If you invested $200,000 with Madoff in 1985, Irving Picard says that your claim from the Madoff estate is limited that that basis that you invested. This is true regardless of whether your statement from November 2008 shows that you had $3 million. Your gains during the entire period of your investment, according to Picard, were phantom. Your only due back your initial investment.

To boot, if you took money out of the Madoff firm within the last six years, you may even have to pay it back or have it offset your claim (Banco Santander already returned billions rather than fight this).

This is a tough pill for many people to swallow, and many believe that Picard is trying to keep the SIPC afloat which it would not be with a different interpretation. He is starting to face lawsuits from investors who lost their entire paper fortunes and are thrown by the fact that they are not even going to get back $500,000. My bet here is that Picard will prevail in the Courts.