Five years after Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for conducting the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, investor confidence still hasn't fully recovered.
While Madoff managed to steal $65 billion over decades from investors, the total amount distributed in the Madoff liquidation proceeding to date exceeds $7.2 billion, covering more than 54% of the losses of allowed claimants. The overall figure of $7.2 billion includes $823.7 million in committed advances from the Securities Investor Protection Corp.
When additional settlements awaiting distribution are taken into account, SIPC says, the total recovery to date in the Madoff liquidation proceeding totals $10.551 billion.
The Madoff Victim Fund has received a total of 63,553 claims covering losses of $76.654 billion. Of the total, 21,822 claims are from U.S. residents, while 41,731 claims are from foreign nationals.
U.S. residents filed claims covering $30.7 billion in investment losses, while foreign nationals submitted claims covering losses of just under $46 billion.
The MVF notes that about 2,800 of the claims reviewed, or about 13%, involve a direct investment in a feeder fund that in turn invested in Madoff Securities. MVF defines direct feeder fund investments as being "one tier" away from Madoff. "Evaluating these direct feeder fund investments is a relatively straightforward process, as there should only be one set of account statements," MVF states.
Nearly 11,600 of the reviewed claims, or 55% of the total, involved an initial investment that was two tiers away from Madoff (one investment fund or other product between the victim and the feeder fund with a direct account), MVF states.
