Victims of fraudster Bernard Madoff may soon be in line for some compensation.

Irving Picard (above), the trustee seeking money for Madoff’s former customers, has reached an agreement with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to recover $326 million – that’s the sum that was previously transferred to the agency by Madoff’s firm, supposedly on behalf of foreign account holders.

Once the settlement money is recovered, some of Madoff’s victims with valid claims will be compensated. Says Picard:

“I believe that the payments made to the IRS falsely identified the funds as income tax withholding in order to give the investment advisory arm of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) an air of legitimacy and to avoid inquiries.”

A court filing uncovered by Picard and his team show payments were made by Madoff’s firm on behalf of 145 foreign account holders. These totaled about $330 million, but the IRS has erroneously refunded about $4.2 million to two of the foreign account holders.

Of course, this still leaves one hell of a shortfall when it comes to recovering all of the money lost in Madoff’s outrageous financial fraud. Picard said he has so far retrieved $8.7 billion – roughly half of the $17.3 billion worth of valid customer claims.

Madoff, meanwhile, continues to serve a 150-year prison sentence for his role in perpetrating a $65 billion Ponzi scheme. The former financier is serving time at FCI Butner Medium, while his wife Ruth Madoff has had to give up the couple’s $7 million New York duplex.

Bernard Madoff Trustee Settlement To Recover $326 million From IRS is a post from: The Inquisitr

As Bernie Madoff brags of a safe and almost pleasant prison experience, people outside continue to suffer from his lengthy con- including the widow of Madoff’s son, Mark.

After the scandal, Mark Madoff was unable to make peace with his father’s crimes. Two years after Madoff’s massive fraud was revealed, Mark died by his own hand in his SoHo apartment as his young son slept nearby. That was last December, and Mark’s widow Stephanie Madoff Mack has released a book detailing her pain after the loss of her husband and the disgrace the family had experienced following the scandal.

“The End Of Normal: A Wife’s Anguish, A Widow’s New Life,” out this week, reveals salacious details about both Bernie Madoff and wife Ruth, including the former’s poor boundaries with both family and employees and the latter’s strange eating habits and sordid family history. Madoff Mack says Bernie reached out to her after Mark’s death- adding she’d “spit in his face” if she met him again- and defended himself in the wake of the tragedy, saying:

“I realize that my pain will never take away the loss and suffering that you and the children feel… Stephanie, I can understand your hatred and anger towards me. Nothing I can say will probably change this.

“However I feel I must say some things to you. It is clear that you have bought into the media’s characterization of me. I know that you can’t believe it was ever my intention to hurt my family.”

In an ABC interview ahead of her book launch, Madoff Mack recounts how her calculating father-in-law “stood there in the corner at [her] wedding watching everyone dance, and he knew that everyone in that room was going to get screwed.” Stephanie also says she holds the elder Madoff “fully responsible” for Mark’s death. 

Bernie Madoff’s Son’s Widow Would ‘Spit in His Face’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ex-Bernard Madoff aide Annette Bongiorno has been granted a reprieve from house arrest, on the condition she continues to wear an electronic bracelet. Bongiorno, who is accused of helping Madoff cover up his $50 billion Ponzi scheme, is charged with conspiracy and tax evasion.

The 62-year-old Bongirono is free on $3 million bond, and was formerly under house arrest, restricted to her Long Island home and permitted to only visit relatives on special occasions. Now, however, she has been given freedom for 12 hours a day, five days a week, and is allowed to travel to New Jersey.

An actual trial for Bongiorno and four fellow Madoff workers is not likely to take place for several months, and prosecutors were keen to maintain restrictions on her movement. They argued that $300,000 had recently disappeared from Bongiorno’s bank account, suggesting she might be planning to flee.

Bongiorno’s ‘outrageous’ living expenses were also mentioned – prosecutors said these totaled $13,500 a month.

Lawyers for Bongiorno shot back on both counts, saying her living expenses were closer to $3,000, and claiming the missing $300,000 had been used to make a one-time pre-payment. The money, argued the defense, is no longer available to Bongiorno.

Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty to fraud in June 2009, and was duly sentenced to 150 years in prison, the maximum allowed. He’s currently serving his time at Federal Correctional Complex, Butner. In October 2009, the 73-year-old Madoff reportedly experienced his first prison yard fight with another senior citizen inmate.

Former Bernard Madoff Aide Has House Arrest Lifted is a post from: The Inquisitr

Th 46-year-old elder son of fraudster Bernie Madoff was found dead earlier this morning, hanging from a pipe in his Mercer Street apartment in Manhattan.

Mark Madoff, alone in the SoHo home with his two-year-old son, had hanged himself from a pipe on the two-year anniversary of the revelation of his father’s massive fraud. Madoff was discovered just before 7:30 this morning by his father-in-law after his wife, Stephanie, received cryptic e-mails saying he loved her and to send someone to look after their small son. The child was found unharmed in the apartment.

A lawyer for Mark Madoff said his client was another innocent victim of his father’s now infamous investment scheme:

“It’s a terrible and unnecessary tragedy,” said Mark Madoff’s lawyer, Martin Flumenbaum.

“Mark was an innocent victim of his father’s monstrous crime who succumbed to two years of unrelenting pressure from false accusations and innuendo.”

Mark and his brother Andrew were sued again this week in Manhattan by trustees for the victims of Bernie Madoff’s scheme, in an attempt to recover funds thought to have been transferred to Madoff family members.

Mark Madoff, son of ponzi schemer Bernie, dead in suicide is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ruth Madoff was escorted from her posh Manhattan penthouse today by federal marshals, the New York Daily News is reporting.

Mrs. Madoff, who has reverted to her maiden name Alpern in an unsuccessful bid to find an apartment, reportedly surrendered all the property inside. Five federal marshals took possession of the home just before noon today and are in the process of cataloguing its contents. Ruth has lived in the $7m Upper East Side Duplex for decades with her husband, Bernie Madoff, who is currently serving a sentence of 150 years for his infamous Ponzi scheme.

Ruth Madoff relinquished all claim to the $70m in funds that were in her name, and denied any knowledge of her husband’s schemes. Don’t feel too bad for her, in case you were going to- she was allowed to keep $2.5m in cash in the deal she cut with the Justice Department.

Ruth Madoff now homeless is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Fairfield Greenwich Group, one of the largest investors in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities has vowed to pursue Bernard Madoff. Former NASDAQ chairman Bernard Madoff was arrested earlier this week on federal securities laws violations after he told staff he was running a Ponzi scheme.

Fairfield Greenwich Group said in a statement that it was trying to determine the extent of potential losses.

“We are shocked and appalled by this news,” said Jeffrey Tucker, founding partner of Fairfield Greenwich Group. “We have worked with Madoff for nearly 20 years, investing alongside our clients. We had no indication that we and many other firms and private investors were the victims of such a highly sophisticated, massive fraudulent scheme.”

Here’s where it gets ineresting: of $14.1 billion the Fairfield Greenwich Group holds in assets under management, $7.5 billion was invested in vehicles connected to Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. You’d think with $7.5 billion potentially lost that they would be concerned about trying to get some of it back.

Fairfield Greenwich Group vows to go after Bernard Madoff is a post from: The Inquisitr

Well known Wall Street trader and former chairman on the NASDAQ exchange Bernard Madoff has been arrested and charged with allegedly running a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme.

US Federal prosecutors accuse Madoff of telling senior employees of his advisory firm that “it’s all just one big lie” and that it was “basically, a giant Ponzi scheme,” according to a criminal complaint against him.

“Madoff stated that the business was insolvent, and that it had been for years. Madoff also stated that he estimated the losses from this fraud to be at least approximately $50 billion,” said Lev Dassin, the acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Madoff has been charged with a single count of securities fraud and faces up to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $5 million.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also filed civil charges against Madoff.

Wall Street trader Bernard Madoff arrested over Ponzi Scheme is a post from: The Inquisitr