The trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff’s bankrupt brokerage won court approval to make a second customer payment that may reach $2.4 billion, or seven times as much as the con man’s investors have received so far. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in New York today granted Irving Picard’s request to hold back less money from a fund created to compensate investors for Ponzi scheme losses. Some customers have demanded 9 percent interest on their money. Lifland’s ruling that Picard can reserve just 3 percent for interest means the payment to customers may be $1 billion larger than if he had to hold back the bigger amount, Picard has calculated. More on Bloomberg here.
