Madoff trustee sues Madoff family for almost $200M
Headline Legal News
Bernard Madoff's brother, sons and a niece used the family finance business like a "piggy bank," a court-appointed trustee charged Friday as he demanded in a lawsuit that they return almost $200 million in money to be distributed to cheated investors.
The trustee, Irving Picard, sought $198.7 million from Madoff's brother, Peter, who had worked at Madoff's Manhattan investment company since 1965, and sons, Mark and Andrew.
Also sued was Shana D. Madoff, Bernard Madoff's niece and Peter Madoff's daughter.
Lawyers for the Madoff's brother and sons did not immediately return a phone call for comment. A message for comment left at Shana Madoff's East Hampton home was not immediately returned.
Lawyers for Picard said in papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan that Madoff's family-run business "was operated as if it were the family piggy bank."
They said each of the family members withdrew huge sums of money to fund personal business ventures and to pay for expenses ranging from multimillion dollar homes, cars and boats to monthly credit card charges for restaurants, vacations and clothing.
The lawyers said $141 million identified as fraudulent proceeds were received by the family members in the six years before Madoff surrendered and revealed his plot last December while at least $58 million was received in the last two years.
Peter Madoff was the company's senior managing director and chief compliance officer while Mark and Andrew shared the title of co-director of trading.
Mark had worked with his father at the company since 1986 while Andrew had been there since 1988.
Shana Madoff, a lawyer, had worked there since 1995 as compliance counsel and in-house counsel, the court papers said.
Related listings
-
ACLU Demands Info On DHS Computer Searches At Borders
Headline Legal News 08/28/2009According to Courthouse News, the ACLU demands information on the Department of Homeland Security's policy on searching laptop computers at international borders. The DHS' Customs and Border Protection office announced in July that it can search elec...
-
Veteran Says Mercenaries Shot Him In Iraq
Headline Legal News 08/27/2009Courthouse News reports that civilian security contractors in Iraq shot and permanently disabled a US Special Forces sergeant as he returned to Baghdad International Airport after an intelligence mission, the veteran claims in Federal Court. Sgt. Kha...
-
Former Prof Arrested, Accused of Taking 2 Guns Into Law Library
Headline Legal News 08/26/2009According to the ABA Journal, a former adjunct faculty member at the University of Louisville's law school was arrested Friday after allegedly bringing two handguns and 53 rounds of ammunition into the law school library around 8:30 a.m. Police were ...
Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.