Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee tasked with recovering Bernard Madoff’s assets, has his sights set on certain assets in Canada.
Madoff was sentenced last year to 150 years in prison for orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme that wiped out life savings and entire charities. Reuters reports that Picard, a partner at the law firm Baker & Hostetler LLP, believes that Madoff may have some assets in Canada and will now hire Montreal law firm, Kugler Kandestin LLP to help trace them. Picard’s motion to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to allow him to hire Kugler was reportedly approved by Judge Burton R. Lifland on Wednesday.
Picard was hired by the Securities Investor Protection Corp, a U.S. agency that helps recover assets from failed brokerages, to recover assets for victims of Madoff’s estimated $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Hundreds of Madoff victims have complained that Picard is undervaluing their claims and a hearing is scheduled on February 2, 2010 to examine his methods.
