Madoff trustee can pursue lawsuits against Koch, banks, others
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NEW YORK - A U.S. federal appeals court said the trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff's firm may pursue dozens of lawsuits to recoup funds from defendants including Koch Industries Inc, long controlled by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, and major banks.
Monday's decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan overturned November 2016 dismissals by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein in Manhattan.
It gives the trustee Irving Picard a chance to add hundreds of millions of dollars to the $13.36 billion he has recouped for former customers of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.
The trustee has estimated that the customers lost $17.5 billion in Madoff's fraud, which was uncovered in December 2008.
Picard had sued Koch, HSBC Holdings Plc, UBS AG and others in 88 lawsuits to recoup funds traceable to the imprisoned swindler, but which had been sent outside the United States.
