A federal bankruptcy judge has ruled that Bernard Madoff can be questioned by lawyers for some former customers who lost money when the imprisoned swindler's firm collapsed in December 2008, Reuters reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein authorized a deposition of Madoff at a March 23 hearing, and yesterday’s filing proposed a formal order that it be scheduled. A hearing on that request is scheduled for Wednesday. Questions would be limited to the meaning of more than 91,000 transactions recorded as "profit withdrawal" on the books of the former Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, court papers showed. Some former customers believe that Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee liquidating Madoff's firm, has undervalued their claims. They have argued that only Madoff would know how to properly account for profit withdrawals, and that what he might say could strengthen their hand in litigation. Read more.
For a further analysis of commercial fraud, make sure to pick up a copy of ABI’s Fraud and Forensics: Piercing Through the Deception in a Commercial Fraud Case.