Lovells hired to trace Bernard Madoff's UK asset
Lovells hired to trace Bernard Madoff's UK assets
The law firm is to hunt for the financier's assets in Britain, amid fears that three million people are affected worldwide
Graham Keeley, Christine Seib and Michael Herman
The trustee in charge of liquidating the brokerage operations of Bernard Madoff, the New York financier behind an alleged $50billion scam, has hired Lovells, the British law firm, to hunt for his assets in the UK.
In court papers filed in New York on Monday night, Irving Picard, who was appointed trustee of the Madoff business in December, said that he wanted Lovells to help to resolve “jurisdictional issues” that had arisen in London and Europe.
Lovells has accepted the mandate, but declined to comment.
The law firm, whose partners charge £610 an hour, will work alongside Grant Thornton, the accountants handling the liquidation of Madoff Securities International Ltd, the London unit.
The appointment came as Spanish lawyers estimated that three million people worldwide could be affected by Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme.
The estimate is based on information from 30 law firms worldwide representing victims of the alleged pyramid fraud.
Javier Cremades, president of Cremades Calvo-Sotelo, the Spanish law firm, said that it had calculated that “at least three million people” could be directly or indirectly affected by the affair.
“About 30 per cent” of worldwide victims may not yet be aware of it because they may have lost small sums invested in pension funds, he said.
Votes:10
Comments: 0