A federal bankruptcy judge yesterday dismissed lawsuits by the trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff's firm to recoup funds from Koch Industries Inc., the company controlled by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, and dozens of other defendants, Reuters reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein said that defendants in most of the 88 lawsuits could keep money that Irving Picard, who is liquidating Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, traced to the swindler but was sent outside the United States. Picard had sought to recover hundreds of millions of dollars from foreign entities that had received Madoff-linked money from other foreign transferees, including "feeder funds" operated by Fairfield Greenwich Group and Tremont Group Holdings, as well as the Kingate feeder funds. But in an 87-page decision, Judge Bernstein dismissed a majority of Picard's claims against the "subsequent foreign transferees" because of international comity, the need to let other countries enforce their own laws. He also dismissed dozens of claims, including against affiliates of HSBC Holdings Plc and UBS Group AG, based on "extraterritoriality," because the defendants had insufficient ties with the United States. Read more.
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