1,230 Madoff victims to receive checks

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NEW YORK, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- The trustee handling the case of New York Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff said he mailed $2.5 billion in checks to 1,230 victims this week.

Convicted swindler Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence in a federal prison in North Carolina. With $17.3 billion in losses, the fraud that lasted for more than a decade is often reported to be the largest in history.

Court-appointed trustee Irving Picard said he sent checks averaging $2 million to some of the victims in the scheme.

The smallest check in the batch is for $1,784, while the largest is for $526.8 million, Picard said.

With this week's distribution of funds, Picard has sent out $3.6 billion to victims, CNNMoney reported Thursday.

He has recovered a total of $9.15 billion.

With the latest payment, 182 more victims will have recovered their losses in full, bringing the total number of closed claims to 1,074.

Another 1,048 claims remain open.