Over Half-Billion Dollars Committed to Defrauded Madoff Customers

Payouts now in the works to the former clients of Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff have reached $534.25 million.

The Securities Investor Protection Corp. has so far determined a total of 2,861 customer claims to date, according to court-appointed trustee Irving Picard, a partner at law firm Baker & Hostetler.

The total SIPC advances committed to Madoff’s defrauded investors now exceed the total advances made in the 321 prior liquidations handled by the SIPC since it was created nearly four decades ago, according to SIPC president Stephen Harbeck.

However, the $534.25 million in advances committed so far by the SIPC are only a subset of the total allowed claims figure of over $4.4 billion.