Picower Estate to Pay Billions on Madoff Claims

The estate of Jeffrey Picower, an investor in Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, is likely to pay approximately $2 billion to other investors as part of a settlement with the trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff’s firm. If finalized, the settlement will end the lawsuit filed by Irving Picard last year, which sought $7.2 billion from Picower.

Yesterday, a U.S. bankruptcy judge blocked legal claims filed by two investors against Picower, finding the claims threatened to interfere with the near-complete negotiations between Picard and the Picower estate.

“The trustee indicates that he is on the verge of a settlement with the Picower defendants that promises to achieve a substantial, multibillion-dollar sum for distribution to Madoff victims,” Judge Burton Lifland, who is overseeing claims by Madoff investors, said in a written order.

Update Nov.18, 2010: “Irving Picard, the trustee recovering money for Madoff’s victims, announced that he had cut a deal with the estate of the late Jeffry Picower that would reap $5 billion for the victims’ fund, with another $2.2 billion to be distributed to victims via the U.S. government.”