The court-appointed trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff’s firm yesterday announced a $280 million settlement with one of the swindler’s earliest investors, enabling customers to recoup more than 75 percent of the principal they lost, Reuters reported. The accord with hedge fund manager Ezra Merkin also resolved claims against Ascot Partners LP, a “feeder fund” he ran that sent customers’ money to Madoff, often without their knowledge, as well as his management company Gabriel Capital Corp. Upon receiving court approval, the accord would boost recoveries for former customers of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC to $13.26 billion. That is nearly 76 percent of the $17.5 billion that the trustee Irving Picard said that was wiped out in Madoff’s fraud, which was uncovered in December 2008. A New York state judge appointed a receiver for Ascot the following July. The settlement allows Ascot to file a claim in the Madoff firm’s liquidation. But any payouts must go to its investors, not to Merkin, who also lost money with Madoff.
