Picower Foundation Sued by Trustee in Madoff Case
As reported in the Philanthropy News Digest.
The trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff’s assets has sued the West Palm Beach-based Picower Foundation, which was wiped out in the disgraced Madoff’s multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, the Associated Press reports.
The complaint, filed in Federal Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, alleges that the foundation established by Jeffry and Barbara Picower earned nearly $7 billion by investing with Madoff, who was a friend of the couple for decades. According to the New York Times, the suit seeks the return of $5.1 billion from various trust funds and partnerships run by Jeffry Picower, a prominent investor in his own right. The trustee, Irving Picard, alleged that the couple “knew or should have known that they were benefitting from fraudulent activity or, at a minimum, failed to exercise reasonable due diligence.” According to the complaint, Madoff managed accounts that earned exceptional returns over thirteen years for the Picowers, including one that allegedly returned 950 percent in 1999.
An attorney for the Picowers, William Zabel, told the AP that his clients were never aware that anything was amiss. “They were totally shocked by his fraud and were in no way complicit in it,” Zabel said. “They lost billions of personal assets and, most dear to them, all the assets of their esteemed foundation.”
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