Bad news for Bernie Madoff victims

A federal Appeals Court on Monday blocked the trustee overseeing the Bernard Madoff bankruptcy case from reaching far back in time to recoup money that can be repaid to victims of the massive Ponzi scheme. Trustee Irving Picard had been pressing more than 1,000 individual investors and firms that had received payouts over the years from Madoff to surrender up to six years of those profits — some $1.6 billion. However, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York ruled that Picard can only pursue two years of payments from those investors. More on Boston.com here.