Scores of Bernard Madoff’s former customers are pushing for access to a massive database of trading records and other documents seized from the con man’s now-defunct securities firm to advance a fringe theory about the fraud: It wasn’t a Ponzi scheme, Bloomberg News reported. The reasoning behind why they’re advancing the claim: If it wasn’t a Ponzi scheme, they needn’t surrender more than $100 million in what the trustee of Madoff’s firm calls false trading profits. The customers say that they can prove that Madoff used cash from his investment advisory customers to buy billions of dollars in Treasuries and held Fortune 100 stocks that appeared on their statements. That, they argue, would defeat the trustee’s claim that it was all a Ponzi scheme in which no real trading took place — a theory the trustee calls pure fiction. "The standard for a Ponzi scheme is that there is no legitimate business, but Madoff was the single largest market maker in the world," said lawyer Helen Davis Chaitman, who represents about 70 customers. "I believe I can prove that securities were purchased for some of my customers."
