Deal Book (NY Times): Federal prosecutors and the trustee liquidating the estate of Bernard L. Madoff, the convicted swindler, are inches away from announcing a civil settlement that will add at least $7 billion to the cash available to compensate victims of Mr. Madoff’s global Ponzi scheme, according to several people briefed on the negotiations.
The settlement will conclude the trustee’s case against the estate of Jeffry M. Picower, a Palm Beach philanthropist and longtime Madoff investor who died in October 2009.
Prosecutors have said privately that the settlement will be the largest civil forfeiture payment in American judicial history.
Lawyers for Mr. Picower’s estate have confirmed in the past that settlement talks were under way but declined on Thursday to confirm or deny the $7 billion figure, which will greatly expand the $2.3 billion sum that the trustee has collected through asset sales and other settlements.
If the settlement reaches $7 billion or more, the assets collected by the trustee will approach $10 billion. This would be close to 25% of the more than $40 billion sought in various actions by Madoff liquidation trustee Irving H. Picard. Read more…..