December 11, 2010 10:01 AM

Madoff Sons May Pay for His Sins

By
CBSNews
(CBS)  CBS News has learned the court-appointed trustee overseeing the Madoff case is ready to up the ante on behalf of victims.

Trustee Irving Picard is poised to file civil complaints against Madoff's two sons Mark and Andrew - who ran their father's trading division - and Peter Madoff, Bernie's brother and company's chief compliance officer, reports CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian.

Video: Tour Inside Madoff's Montauk Home

One source says Picard will seek in excess of $50 million - including at least $30 million in loans to the sons. He is not accusing them of wrongdoing; instead his goal is to recapture money diverted from Bernie Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme.

"He's trying to get money back for the benefit of creditors from people who weren't entitled to receive it," said bankruptcy attorney John Kinzey.

Other sources say Picard intends to force the Madoffs to reveal all their assets - everything from bank accounts to fancy homes, including one on Nantucket Island bought by Mark Madoff and his wife for six and a half million dollars in cash. It was bought with money directly transferred, CBS News has been told, in June of 2008 from the bank account of Bernie Madoff Investment Securities.

Photos: A Closer Look Inside Madoff's Montauk Home

We wanted to ask Mark Madoff about the potential civil lawsuit.

We caught up with him and his wife on the streets of New York where his wife took exception to our question.

Mark Madoff would only say "no comment" before scrambling away.

In a statement, a lawyer for the brothers said they had no knowledge of the fraud, are the ones who turned their father in, and continue to cooperate fully with authorities.

Still, it may not prevent Picard from going after every asset Bernie Madoff gave to any member of his family.

Copyright 2010 CBS. All rights reserved.
Add a Comment See all 34 Comments
by mrjustice1 September 4, 2009 10:57 AM EDT
Hunt these financiers down and mete out the justice and punishment that they have earned!
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by fariborzzak September 4, 2009 2:34 AM EDT
Does US Gov. have enough power to punish Maddof?
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by wyodutch September 3, 2009 7:32 PM EDT
Oy Vey!
Reply to this comment
by donnerwetter September 3, 2009 6:40 PM EDT
illuminated1. I would appreciate if you would not use such foul language and please remember: Jesus is King and one day you too will have to answer to him.
Reply to this comment
by DerHey September 3, 2009 7:13 AM EDT
Babooph has it right!

"When I get old can I steal a wad,divert it to my famiy & then do my last couple years in the big house?"

As it stands, the way the justice system has acted, there is nothing to discourage anybody else from trying this again!

"Hmmm; I can choose to live like my schmuck friends in Queens who have working-man trade jobs and are stuck to living in small schmaltzy two-story walk ups; or commit fraud for years and live like a king, only to retire to a medium security facility..."

Maybe not everyone will make the choice he did, but many now seeing the consequences will!

These "Master of the Universe" guys are driven by ego; to show their friends back in Queens, or wherever, that they are big men. To discourage others, they have to put Madoff to work doing community service of picking up garbage (with an occasional photo-op for the press...); if he refuses to cooperate, you can then have a justification of legal precedent to put him in solitary; no books, no visitors, no TV/radio, no outdoors time.

Other ego-centric candidates seeing him humiliated in such a way will be further discouraged from doing so. It won't discourage everyone (e.g., some nutjobs will remain nutjobs), but it will serve to discourage more.
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by ramos1129 September 2, 2009 4:24 PM EDT
Both sons knew what the father was doing and did nothing to stop it. Both should not benefit from the father's misdeeds. At the very least, they should be made to pay back whatever amounts they benefited from.
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by T1H2TA3 September 2, 2009 3:37 PM EDT
Lets take this one step further. Everyone Maddof ever paid a salary to were paid with ill gotten gains so.........how about clawing back all the workers salaries while we're at it. They were over paid anyway since the were pushing pencils to a fictious scheme. It only stands to reason since any innocent investor who was lucky enough to have gotten out before the musice stopped whole is subject to the claw back.
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by ianlou September 2, 2009 1:33 PM EDT
Madoff Sons May Pay for His Sins.

Duh!!!!!!

Madoff Sons became rich from His Sins.

Only the Rich have the Chutzpah to believe they deserve to be able to keep stolen wealth.
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by babooph September 2, 2009 9:21 AM EDT
"They ran their fathers trading division"?? were they ever curious that there were never any trades ?
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by hungry1968-16 September 2, 2009 9:02 AM EDT
EVERYBODY associated with this "company", should have ALL of their assets confiscated, including their homes.

And if they aren't sent to jail, then they should be thrown penniless into the street.
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