Last week, the court-appointed trustee in the Madoff case sued Stanley Chais for $1 billion. Yesterday the same trustee went after Ezra Merkin for $494 million.

Does Irving Picard now have his sights set on Hadassah and others who withdrew cash from their accounts with Madoff?

from The New York Times:

Trustee Sues Madoff Hedge Fund Investor

According to the complaint, Mr. Merkin steered more than $1 billion into Mr. Madoff’s hands since 1995 through three large private hedge funds, Ascot Partners, Ariel Fund and Gabriel Capital. The Ariel fund is not related to Ariel Investments of Chicago.

Since 2002, Mr. Merkin’s funds withdrew at least $494 million from the Madoff scheme — returns that a financially sophisticated investor like Mr. Merkin “knew or should have known” were fraudulent, the lawsuit contends.