The liquidator of Bernard Madoff's firm is barred by state and federal laws from taking back money invested with a brokerage, almost 300 defendants told U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff in court papers, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Madoff's customers are entitled to interest, damages and opportunity costs in addition to their principal, and can keep deposits made in the two years before the con man's Ponzi scheme collapsed, according to the joint brief filed in federal court. Judge Rakoff has allowed trustee Irving Picard to try to claw back fake profits received by investors during the two-year period. The defendants range from ABN Amro Bank NV and Nomura Holdings Inc. affiliates to the trustee liquidating former Madoff investor Ezra Merkin’s hedge funds and accountant Frank Avellino.
