An Austrian hedge fund that helped direct investments from abroad into Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme agreed to pay $76.5 million to victims of the fraud in a settlement with the trustee who is unwinding the con man’s firm, Bloomberg News reported. Trustee Irving Picard said yesterday that he reached the deal with Alpha Prime Fund Ltd., which is domiciled in Bermuda and managed in Austria. The settlement brings the total recovered by Picard to $12.8 billion. More than $10 billion has been distributed to victims of Madoff’s fraud, while some money has been set aside pending resolution of lawsuits by victims seeking more cash than the trustee says they’re entitled to.
