The Madoff Coalition for Investor Protection has announced that numerous briefs have been filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York in opposition to the trustee’s motion for an order upholding the trustee’s determination denying customer claims for amounts listed on their last account statement.
According to a press release from the Madoff Coalition for Investor Protection, the briefs set forth that Irving Picard, trustee, and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) have no legal authority for re-defining “net equity” so as to save money for SIPC which, by law, is required to insure customer accounts of SECregulated broker/dealers up to $500,000 against the dishonesty of a broker.
Picard is working in an inconsistent manner with what Congress intended when it created SIPC in 1970. Picard’s actions, contrary to SIPC’s history and ignoring case law, will deny SIPC coverage to more than half of Bernard Madoff’s victims in an investment scheme, according to the press release. The briefs state that the trustee has no legal authority for the position he is taking and that his position contradicts 38 years of SIPC’s history, as well as positions taken by SIPC in its brochures, on its websites, and in court submissions over 38 years.
A hearing in this matter is scheduled for Feb. 2.