At a hearing for Madoff investors today, Irving Picard, the trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff’s assets, stated that there was “no evidence to indicate securities were purchased for customer accounts” in at least 13 years.
The AP reports that at the meeting, which was held at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, David Sheehan, a lawyer working for Picard, called the alleged fraud “a Ponzi scheme where no stock was purchased.” Sheehan also said that the Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) will be trying to recover “false profits” earned by some investors. “There wasn’t any stock bought or sold,” he said. “It was all just made up. … You got somebody else’s money.”
Picard stated that his office has received 2,350 claims so far, and that he expects the number to double. The deadline for submitting claims is July 2, he stated.
