A fund set up by the US government to help compensate victims of the late fraudster Bernard Madoff has begun making its latest round of payments, according to a statement from the Department of Justice (DoJ).
The payouts made by the Madoff Victim Fund (MVF) are worth $131.4 million (£104.6 million) and are expected to bring the total awarded to 40,930 claimants to $4.3 billion.
Madoff, the Wall Street financier disgraced after admitting to one of the biggest frauds in US financial history, died in prison in 2021.
He served a 150 year sentence after pleading guilty in 2009. for running a so-called Ponzi scheme that paid investors with money from new customers rather than actual profits.
“MVF's distributions offset one of the most monstrous financial crimes ever committed,” said Richard S. Breeden, who runs MVF.
Mr. Breeden is the former chairman of the US financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“We have brought tens of thousands of victims to the greatest recovery we could achieve,” he added.
Madoff's victims were a mix of rich people, poorer people and companies – large and small – as well as schools, charities and pension funds.
MFV estimates that it will have recovered almost 94% of proven victim losses when it completes its mission in 2025.
Another $14.7 billion has been returned through bankruptcy proceedings to Madoff clients.
Madoff's investment firm collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis.
Founded in 1960, Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities became one of Wall Street's largest market makers – connecting buyers and sellers of stocks – and Madoff served as chairman of the Nasdaq stock trading platform.
Over the years, the firm was investigated eight times by the SEC because it made extraordinary returns.
But the global recession was the death knell for the firm, as Madoff's crisis-hit investors tried to withdraw about $7 billion and he couldn't find the money to cover them.
The list of those defrauded included actor Kevin Bacon, Hall of Fame baseball player Sandy Koufax and director Steven Spielberg's charitable foundation, Wunderkinder.
UK banks were also among those that lost money, with HSBC Holdings saying it had an exposure of about $1 billion. Other corporate victims were Royal Bank of Scotland and Man Group and Japan's Nomura Holdings.