Recovered Madoff Money Now Over $11 Billion; More Hidden Away?
NEW YORK -- The amount of money recovered for victims of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme has now topped $11 billion, bankruptcy lawyers announced today.
"We now have $11,079,000,000," said Irving Picard, who heads the team of bankruptcy lawyers appointed by the court to sort out the financial mess left when Madoff was arrested and his firm collapsed in 2008.
Based on the $17.5 billion that investors originally put into Madoff's hands, victims would recover about 63 cents on the dollar for every approved claim of their principle investment.
A look from ABC's Brian Ross on what happened to the billions stolen from investors:
"We're hoping that we can collect another $3 to $4 billion so we could be in the $14 or $15 billion range," Picard told ABC News.
At the time of Madoff's arrest, his clients thought they had a total of some $64 billion based on profits over the years. The victims will be compensated only for the amount of money they originally invested, not the fictitious profits that Madoff created.
You can read the full story on ABCNews.com.
TUNE IN Wednesday and Thursday this week for the ABC miniseries "Madoff" followed Thursday by an hour-long ABC News special on the real-life Madoff story.
To get caught up, check out ABC News' in-depth coverage of the Madoff scandal by clicking HERE.
