Lawyers Say Death of Madoff Associate Complicates Investor Case
The death of Jeffry Picower, suspected of making $7 billion by investing with Bernard Madoff, could complicate a suit seeking to recover money on behalf of other investors who lost money in Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
Picower, 67, was found dead in his swimming pool at his Palm Beach, Fla., mansion Sunday, according to the New York Times, the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal. An autopsy has not yet been performed. William Zabel, a family lawyer, said Picower had a history of cardiac problems and Parkinson’s disease.
Picower is a graduate of Brooklyn Law School.
Madoff bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard had filed a suit seeking more than $6 billion that Picower and his wife had withdrawn from Madoff accounts. Picard’s suit claims one of Jeffry Picower’s accounts with Madoff had an annual profit in 1999 of more than 950 percent, and the high returns were a form of compensation for perpetuating the Ponzi scheme. Federal prosecutors were also investigating whether Picower was aware of Madoff’s wrongdoing, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Picard said in an e-mailed statement that the litigation will continue; he did not elaborate, the Associated Press reports in a separate story. Jerry Reisman, a lawyer representing about 26 victims, said Picower’s death makes it more difficult for the trustee to recoup some of the money because Picower won’t be able to explain “from his own words whether he was complicit.” Another lawyer for victims, Jonathan Landers, told AP that it’s unclear what effect Picower’s death will have.
”It may cause those who have control of his assets to fight harder because there is no longer any personal dignity or desire to settle and move on,” he told AP in an e-mail.
Picower and his wife have denied any knowledge of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. They told the New York Times that they were “stunned, betrayed, angry, sickened, devastated” by the Madoff scandal.
