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A group of legislators yesterday announced they've crafted a bill to outlaw current efforts to "claw back" money from victims of Ponzi King Bernie Madoff. Six members of Congress, including local US Reps. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside) and Peter King (R-Long Island), unveiled legislation that would change how the Securities Investor Protection Corp. collects illegally obtained funds to give to Ponzi scheme victims. SIPC has been attacked for going after ill-gotten gains from Madoff victims who didn't know they were involved in the scam. SIPC argues that it's collecting from those who profited, even if unwittingly, to give to those who...

Most of Madoff's victims were also his accomplices By Joe Nocera Friday, March 13, 2009 NEW YORK: Standing in the security line Thursday morning, waiting to get into the federal courthouse in Manhattan, I started chatting with the man behind me. He looked to be in his early 60s, and though he was well dressed, he looked a little haggard. I asked him if he was a victim of Bernard Madoff, who would soon be pleading guilty to masterminding the greatest Ponzi scheme in history. He said he was. Did he want to talk about it? He wasn't sure, he...

........ a bankruptcy judge ruled Madoff's investors can maximum cash compensation is $100,000 from the Securities Investor Protection Corp liquidating his now-defunct firm. US Bankruptcy Court Judge Burton Lifland approved the SIPC plan wherein Madoff's investors are entitled to $500,000 worth of securities from the SIPC (includes $100,000 cash figure).

nvestigators are unearthing more irregularities in the financial affairs of Bernard Madoff, the man who stunned America's wealthy elite when he allegedly admitted running the biggest investment scam in history. Initially, it was thought he was running a simple pyramid scheme. But Steve Harbeck, head of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation and the receiver of Madoff's broker-dealer business, said the investigation had uncovered a trove of records stretching back at least 20 years. "We do not seem to be dealing with a traditional Ponzi scheme alone," said Harbeck. "Ponzi" frauds occur when the money from new investors is used to...

NEW YORK (AP) — One week ago, Ronnie Ambrosino was a millionaire. Now, Ambrosino is among the long list of investors whose fortunes were allegedly wiped out by Bernard Madoff. Like them, she's left hoping for a bailout that might never come. She plans to sue Madoff but that could take years to work through the courts and yield little in the end. Her best hope to recoup some of her money is from the Securities Investor Protection Corp., an industry-funded organization set up by the government to protect investors from fraud. But, here's the problem: SIPC does not have...

Investors poring over Bernard Madoff's books have discovered he falsified documents to hide massive losses in a fraud that could take months to unravel......... Stephen Harbeck, chief executive of nonprofit Securities Investor Protection Corporation said there are different sets of books to sort through. One set keeps track of losses at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC's investment advisory arm, while the other set is what investors were shown. A federal judge has ordered Madoff's investment business to be liquidated under a court-appointed trustee, who is mailing out paperwork to customers to assess how much assets were given to Madoff....

Judge Says Those Duped Need Aid Under The Securites Investor Protection Act ― Federal investigators remain at the investment offices of disgraced investor Bernard Madoff, scouring through records to learn the scope of what may be the biggest Ponzi scheme ever in the United States. The numbers are staggering, the losses far-reaching, but help may be on the way for investors thanks to an order for protection from a federal judge. The scheme was operated out of the so-called "Lipstick Building" on Third Avenue. Bernard Madoff Investment Securities LLC occupies three floors and may have bilked investors of $50 billion....

Madoff Investors May Be Protected By Government Reporting John Slattery NEW YORK (CBS) ― Federal investigators remain at the investment offices of disgraced investor Bernard Madoff, scouring through records to learn the scope of what may be the biggest Ponzi scheme ever in the United States. The numbers are staggering, the losses far-reaching. The scheme was operated out of the so-called "Lipstick Building" on Third Avenue. Bernard Madoff Investment Securities LLC occupies three floors and may have bilked investors of $50 billion. Prosecutors say it was a classic Ponzi scheme. The firm paid-off earlier investors with money from new investors....