MADOFF: Diary of a Ponzi Scheme Case and Recovery Initiative

This talk will be given by BU Law alumnus Irving Picard ('66), who is a partner at Baker Hostetler in New York. His practice focuses primarily on representing unsecured and secured creditors, commercial landlords, bankruptcy trustees, and other parties in interest in bankruptcy reorganization cases, as well as in out-of-court restructurings. He also serves as a court-appointed trustee in securities brokerage house liquidations under the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA). In this capacity, Mr. Picard serves as the court-appointed trustee under SIPA for the global representation of the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS), one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history. As of December 2013, the SIPA Trustee and his legal teams have recovered or entered into agreement to recover over $9.5 billion and distributed more than $4.883 billion to BLMIS customers with allowed claims. Combines with approximately $811 million in cash advances from SIPC to speed some financial relief to BLMIS customers with allowed claims, more than $5.5 billion has been returned to victims. Mr. Picard will offer his insights into the Madoff case and its implications.