The U.S. Supreme Court signaled interest in an appeal by the liquidator of Bernard Madoff’s firm, asking the Obama administration for advice on suits seeking $8 billion from banks alleged to have helped funnel money into his Ponzi scheme, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Trustee Irving Picard is urging the justices to let him sue HSBC Holdings Plc, UniCredit SpA and UBS AG to recoup customer losses. A federal appeals court said that Picard lacked authority to press those suits, and the justices today requested input from U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli. Picard argued in his appeal that the banks “are as responsible as Madoff for the enormous magnitude of customer losses.”
