The convictions earlier this week of five of Bernard Madoff’s office workers gives the lie to Madoff’s long-held assertion that his massive Ponzi scheme was essentially a one-man show. No one really believed that lie, certainly not the prosecutors and investigators who have scoured over the remains of Madoff’s fraudulent investment firm ever since the disgraced financier was arrested in late 2008. More on Fox Business News [...]

More than five years have passed since Irving Picard was first appointed trustee to oversee the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. The New York bankruptcy lawyer and his team have already recovered or entered into agreements to recover nearly $9.795 billion of the approximately $20 billion defrauded from Madoff’s investment customers. This week the trustee’s office announced that a fourth distribution will pay out another $349 million to the Ponzi scheme victims, bringing total payments to more than $6 billion (more than 46 percent of claimants’ losses). “Our commitment is simple: to recover the maximum amount of funds stolen in the Madoff Ponzi scheme and to distribute these funds to their rightful owners as quickly as possible,” Picard said in a statement. More on Bloomberg BusinessWeek [...]

The five former Bernard Madoff employees convicted of aiding their boss’ Ponzi scheme face one more verdict along with their expected prison terms — rulings on whether they and relatives must forfeit their largest remaining assets. Prosecutors and defense lawyers earlier this month agreed that U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain, not the jury that handed up convictions Monday, should decide the forfeiture issue. The judge, who presided over the more than five-month conspiracy trial, is expected to issue rulings by the time of the sentencings she set for the week of July 28. More on USA Today [...]

Former customers of Bernard Madoff will have recouped nearly $6 billion of their money if a federal bankruptcy judge approves the latest payout request by the trustee liquidating the swindler’s firm. The trustee, New York lawyer Irving Picard, on Tuesday said he is seeking approval to pay out $349 million to fraud victims with 1,080 accounts, with payments ranging from $496 to $77.3 million. More on Reuters here. [...]

Five former aides to investment manager Bernard Madoff were convicted on Monday of charges that they helped their boss conceal his multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme for years. A federal jury in New York found back-office director Daniel Bonventre, portfolio managers Annette Bongiorno and Joann Crupi, and computer programmers Jerome O’Hara and George Perez guilty on all counts, including securities fraud and conspiracy to defraud clients. More on Reuters [...]

A federal judge on Friday gave final approval to JPMorgan Chase & Co’s (JPM.N) $218 million settlement to resolve class-action litigation accusing the largest U.S. bank of playing a central role in the huge Ponzi scheme of former client Bernard Madoff. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan said the accord “easily meets the standards” for final approval, and provides “substantial and immediate” benefits to the swindler’s former customers. More on Reuters [...]

The jury deciding the fate of five of Bernard Madoff’s former employees charged with aiding his $17.5 billion Ponzi scheme will resume deliberations today with 11 members after one fell ill and was dismissed by a judge. The juror’s health isn’t likely to improve soon and replacing her with one of four alternates who attended the five-month trial would have been disruptive because deliberations were under way for two days before the illness, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in Manhattan said yesterday. The remaining jurors will be told of the change today, she said. More on Bloomberg [...]