The estates of the two sons of Bernie Madoff have to defend lawsuits.
Bernie Madoff, who has been convicted of a Ponzi scheme, had two sons but both passed away with one committing suicide and the other dying of cancer. However, lawsuits had been filed against them and the estates of the sons are now faced with defending those lawsuits.
Irving Picard, who is in charge of reclaiming funds for Madoff’s victims, filed the suits against them and as Bloomberg reports in “Madoff Sons’ Fight Over Cash Endures Long After Their Deaths,” Picard has gone back to court in an attempt to force the estates to pay the $150 million he claims the sons improperly received as the result of their father’s fraud.
The estates claim that Madoff’s sons were not a part of the scheme and that when their father confessed to them they went to the authorities. The money they earned while working for their father’s business was earned from legitimate enterprises.
The estates also claim that the Trustee had a chance to press his claims in a related case in the United Kingdom and is now trying to get a second bite of the apple. Picard claims that the case in the U.K. was different in scope and that he did not participate in it. He also claims that the son’s knew about and profited from their father’s scheme.
This case illustrates how long it can take to close an estate when there are heavily contested claims against it that are potentially worth great sums of money.
Reference: Bloomberg (May 9, 2016) “Madoff Sons’ Fight Over Cash Endures Long After Their Deaths”
