Bernard Madoff's Victims Collect $4.3 Billion As U.S. Government Completes Payouts

A US government fund established to compensate victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme announced its final distribution, marking the culmination of a decade-long effort to recover losses.

The Madoff Victim Fund distributed a final payment of $131.4 million to 23,408 claimants. I Photo: U.S. Department of Justice

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The fund has paid out $4.3 billion to 40,930 victims, Jonathan Stempel reported for Reuters.

The Madoff Victim Fund, overseen by former SEC chairman Richard Breeden, distributed a final payment of $131.4 million to 23,408 claimants. In total, victims—ranging from individuals to schools, charities, and pension plans—recouped an average of 93.71% of their verified losses.

Additionally, $14.72 billion has been recovered by Irving Picard, the trustee managing the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

This raises the total compensation to approximately $19 billion. While Picard's efforts focused on direct investors, Breeden's fund also reimbursed those who suffered losses indirectly, such as through feeder funds.

Payouts reached claimants in 127 countries.

"Our objective was to find all of the victims and know what everybody lost to deploy the assets we had in the fairest and most equitable way," Breeden said. "Nobody got left behind."