from Bloomberg:

Madoff Customers to be Paid $1.5 Billion to $2.4 Billion

Customers of Bernard Madoff’s brokerage, who have received just $333 million from the liquidator of the con man’s estate, will get a second payment of $1.5 billion to $2.4 billion, an amount some investors found disappointing.

Madoff trustee Irving Picard said he will ask a judge to approve the distribution, which would bring payments to as much as 50 percent of allowed claims. Part of $5 billion received in a settlement with the Jeffry Picower estate would be used for the payment, although “a large portion” would be held in reserve, he said in a statement today.

Court challenges had been tying up the majority of the $9 billion that Picard has raised in the 3 1/2 years since Madoff’s 2008 arrest, mostly through settlements.