Madoff Investment Victims May Get Money Back Soon

Investors who lost money in an alleged $50 billion scheme orchestrated by Wall Street financial advisor Bernard Madoff may be able to recover their funds in the next few weeks, a federal official said.

An official with the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), a nonprofit agency established by Congress to help repay investors who lose money in failed brokerage funds, said he hoped some of the 2,000 investors who lost money in accounts managed by Madoff might see their money again “in the next few weeks.”

However, the fund supported by broker-dealer fees has a balance of about $1.6 billion, which is a small fraction of what Madoff is accused of stealing from his clients. So far, an estimated $946 million has also been recovered from Madoff’s former investment firm to be returned to defrauded investors, officials said

Madoff was arrested in December 2008 and charged with running what prosecutors allege was a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. In the days before his arrest, Madoff reportedly confessed to his sons and other business partners that his financial empire had no real value and that all the clients’ money was gone. He remains on house arrest in his Manhattan penthouse apartment, awaiting trial.

The SIPC is still working with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and ironing out details about how best to return stolen funds to Madoff’s defrauded investors, officials said.

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