Madoff Trustee Passes Halfway Mark in Repaying Ponzi Victims

The trustee unwinding Bernard Madoff’s $17.5 billion fraud is passing the halfway mark in his quest to repay victims, after an appeals court ruling freed up more cash. Former customers of the convicted con man are set to receive a new round of payments totaling $1.25 billion — the second largest such distribution since the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history unraveled more than six years ago. The payout, which needs approval from the federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan, will boost the amount returned to victims to about $8.22 billion — or more than half the lost principal of approved claims totaling $13.6 billion, the trustee, Irving Picard, said Wednesday in a statement. More on Bloomberg Business here.