Carl and Ruth Shapiro, hire a New York lawyer to represent thier interest in Madoff Fraud

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The family of Carl and Ruth Shapiro, well known for their philanthropy in Boston, has hired a New York lawyer to represent their interests as they reel from financial losses and a sense of personal betrayal in the Bernard L. Madoff scandal.

The Shapiro family has hired an experienced litigator, Steven F. Molo of Shearman & Sterling, a spokesman said.

"They're evaluating and reviewing their legal options right now," said Elliot Sloane, spokesman for the family.

Carl Shapiro, a longtime friend of Madoff and one of his earliest investors in the 1960s, is one of the largest known victims of Madoff's alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme. His charitable foundation, a significant contributor to hospitals and universities in Boston, lost about half of its assets - some $145 million - to Madoff, and the family itself lost about $400 million in personal funds.

It appears that Shapiro trusted Madoff until the very end, giving him $250 million of the personal money about 10 days before Madoff was arrested on Dec. 11, two people briefed on the matter confirmed. Madoff had come to him seeking funds, it now turns out, because his scheme was unraveling.

The $250 million figure was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Having been one of the last investors in probably won't put Shapiro ahead of other Madoff clients to get money back - if any significant funds are ever recovered.

Stephen Harbeck, president of the Securities Investor Protection Corp., which runs a reserve fund to help customers of failed brokerage firms, said people who invested at the eleventh hour with Madoff "have a preferred status over general creditors," such as landlords and vendors, but "not over other customers."

Neither the family nor the Carl & Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation has yet filed a claim with the SIPC. A spokeswoman for the foundation, Diana Pisciotta, yesterday said, "We're reviewing the situation and assessing all options available to recover any funds."

The SIPC can return a maximum of $500,000 per claim - a tiny fraction of the Shapiro losses.

Another investor, Martin Rosenman, who gave Madoff $10 million in the days before the scandal became public, last week sued the trustee overseeing the firm's bankruptcy proceedings to get his money back.

In the lawsuit, filed in US Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, he argued that his money should not be included among assets to be shared with other investors because no securities were bought with his funds.

The trustee and the SIPC have sent out about 8,000 claim forms to Madoff clients.