Madoff victims win $7.2 billion from Picower estate

[sinkingfeeling]

http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/13/news/companies/madoff_picower_court/index.htm?hpt=T2

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- It's a landmark day for victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme. A bankruptcy court judge approved the trustee's request to dole out billions of dollars in seized assets to the victims.

Judge Burton Lifland ruled on Thursday that Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee in the recovery of assets stolen by Madoff, should free up cash to compensate victims.

This applies specifically to the $7.2 billion estate of Jeffry Picower, a philanthropist and Madoff associate who died of a heart attack in 2009. On Dec. 17, 2010, Picard reached a deal with Picower's widow Barbara, who agreed to turn over the money her husband received from the Madoff scheme so it could be returned to victims. This is the largest forfeiture in U.S. history.

Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence in a medium security federal prison in Butner, N.C

[DCKit]

1. The credit belongs to Barbara Picower, for doing the right thing.

She, then her heirs, could have fought this for decades.

$7.2 billion can buy a lot of obstruction.