Madoff Trustee Takes Aim at Picower Foundation
May 13, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Picower Foundation, which claimed massive losses in the Bernard Madoff scandal, has been sued by the trustee overseeing the liquidation of the disgraced financier’s assets, the Associated Press and Bloomberg reports.
Trustee Irving Picard’s complaint, filed Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, in Manhattan, seeks the return of nearly $7-billion from the philanthropy and several related entities, claiming at least $5-billion was “fictitious profit from [Madoff’s] Ponzi scheme.” Foundation founders and longtime Madoff friends Jeffry and Barbara Picower “knew or should have known they were benefiting from fraudulent activity,” Mr. Picard alleged.
The Florida foundation, which previously listed assets of $1-billion and was a major donor to education, medical research, and other causes, announced plans to close in December, saying it had been devastated by Madoff’s fraud.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported last month on the Picower closure’s ripple effect in the nonprofit world.
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