Trustee Finds More Than $830 Million Liquid Assets From Madoff Firm

Trustee Finds More Than $830 Million Liquid Assets From Madoff Firm1-5-09 2:32 PM EST | E-mail Article | Print Article
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The head of the Securities Investor Protection Corp. told a House panel Monday that a court-appointed trustee in the Bernard L. Madoff case has managed to identify $830 million in liquid assets of the now- defunct brokerage firm.

That figure is in addition to the $29 million in debtor assets that the trustee was recently able to obtain through a court order, Stephen P. Harbeck, the president and chief executive of SIPC, said in prepared testimony before the House Financial Services Committee.
SIPC is a nonprofit corporation created by Congress that provides financial protection to the customers of failed securities broker-dealers.

Harbeck didn't indicate in his testimony what the chances are that investors can recover the bulk of their lost money. But Madoff has estimated losses at $50 billion, which means it is likely that most investors will be unable to recoup all of their funds.

"The extent of recovery by customers beyond the amounts advanced by SIPC will depend upon the amount of customer property that the trustee is able to recover, " Harbeck said, noting his organization and the court trustee will aggressively pursue more recoveries for investors.

-By Sarah N. Lynch, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6634; sarah.lynch@ dowjones.com

(Siobhan Hughes contributed to this report.)