A federal judge has approved plaintiffs counsel fees in a $219 million settlement related to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, rejecting objections by the New York attorney general that the fees were "wildly excessive" but trimming a portion of the request for what she said were unnecessary hours reviewing some documents, the New York Law Journal reported on Friday. The settlement arises from separate actions brought by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the U.S. Labor Department and 13 plaintiffs firms on behalf of investors against Ivy Asset Management, a subsidiary of Bank of New York Mellon, accusing it of advising clients to invest with Madoff despite serious concerns about his operations. The parties reached a $219 million settlement, in which Ivy would pay most of the funds. Plaintiffs lawyers had requested $40.8 million in fees, about 20 percent, and $1.2 million in expenses as part of the settlement. Schneiderman and other objectors criticized the number of hours reflected in the request and said plaintiffs counsel had merely "piggybacked" on the attorney general's work to reach the settlement with Ivy (NYLJ, March 8, 18). But Southern District Judge Colleen McMahon rejected the attorney general's argument that the fee award should be rejected because the attorney general had earlier been offered a $140 million settlement.
