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Bloomberg April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Bernard Madoff’s investors filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against the convicted money manager to ensure that all of his assets are used to pay victims of his $65 billion Ponzi scheme.
The petition, filed by five investors today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, seeks to push Madoff into Chapter 7 bankruptcy. It was filed by attorneys for the investors: Blumenthal & Associates Florida General Partnership, Martin Rappaport Charitable Remainder Unitrust, Martin Rappaport, Marc Cherno and Steven Morganstern. They said they hold $64 million in claims against Madoff, who pleaded guilty last month to directing the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history.
The filing was made by Jonathan Landers, an attorney with Milberg LLP and included Madoff’s addresses at 133 East 64th Street on Manhattan’s Upper East Side as well as the Metropolitan Correctional Center at 150 Park Row, where he is being held while he awaits sentencing in June. Madoff faces as much as 150 years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton in Manhattan on April 10 reversed his December ruling that prevented investors from filing the request. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Justice Department and the Securities Investor Protection Corp. opposed the investors’ request. The SEC said the petition will spawn wasteful litigation, while the office of Interim Manhattan U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin said federal forfeiture law would take precedence over bankruptcy law.
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