Madoff trustee’s “bluster” insufficient to block feeder fund settlement
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff has told Irving Picard, the trustee responsible for collecting money for Bernard Madoffs victims, to mind his own beeswax.
April 16, 2013 at 07:21 AM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Law.com
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff has told Irving Picard, the trustee responsible for collecting money for Bernard Madoff's victims, to mind his own beeswax.
Just as he threatened, Picard was attempting to block a settlement between N.Y. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and J. Ezra Merkin, a hedge fund manager who fed client funds to Madoff. But Rakoff rejected this bid in a 26-page order on Monday, saying, “the trustee…having for more than three years issued empty threats to seek a halt to the attorney general's suit, has lost his right to complain.”
Picard has claimed that settlements with feeder funds like Merkin's are detrimental to his purpose—recovering funds for the poor souls who had the misfortune to invest in Madoff's firm. The $410 million deal with Merkin is just the latest of many such settlements Picard has challenged.
However, Rakoff was less than moved by Picard's noble intentions. “Even on the merits, moreover, his bluster proves to be without substance,” Rakoff wrote.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal.
For more InsideCounsel coverage of the Madoff fiasco, see below:
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff has told Irving Picard, the trustee responsible for collecting money for Bernard Madoff's victims, to mind his own beeswax.
Just as he threatened, Picard was attempting to block a settlement between N.Y. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and J. Ezra Merkin, a hedge fund manager who fed client funds to Madoff. But Rakoff rejected this bid in a 26-page order on Monday, saying, “the trustee…having for more than three years issued empty threats to seek a halt to the attorney general's suit, has lost his right to complain.”
Picard has claimed that settlements with feeder funds like Merkin's are detrimental to his purpose—recovering funds for the poor souls who had the misfortune to invest in Madoff's firm. The $410 million deal with Merkin is just the latest of many such settlements Picard has challenged.
However, Rakoff was less than moved by Picard's noble intentions. “Even on the merits, moreover, his bluster proves to be without substance,” Rakoff wrote.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal.
For more InsideCounsel coverage of the Madoff fiasco, see below:
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