On Thursday, a Luxembourg judge ordered Swiss bank UBS to repay €30m ($39m) to Oddo Asset Management, a French company that had invested in funds linked with Bernard Madoff. Oddo successfully argued that although its investment in the Luxalpha fund set up by UBS had been sold on November 17 – roughly a month before authorities arrested Mr Madoff – UBS wrongfully did not release the proceeds to Oddo. The FT reports that the judge ruled that UBS’s refusal to pay was “manifestly unjustified” and dismissed the argument that the funds were affected by a US court order to freeze all assets relating to Madoff vehicles.
The court also ordered UBS to repay Oddo Asset Management by Friday or face an extra €3m penalty for every day’s delay. The FT reports that roughly 15 other investors could potentially fall into the same category as Oddo.
