15,400 file claims against Madoff

NEW YORK, July 9 (UPI) -- More than 15,400 claimants met the deadline to apply for compensation for losses in Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, a trustee in New York said Thursday.

The trustee, Irving Picard, said in a report filed with the bankruptcy court that thousands of applications were filed in the two days before the July 2 deadline, The New York Times reported. In early June, a total of 8,800 claimants had come forward.

Madoff was sentenced June 29 to 150 years in federal prison for what he admitted was a gigantic fraud. Investigators said Madoff for almost 30 years reported steady but fictitious returns of about 10 percent annually to his investors.

Those who lost money with Madoff are unlikely to get back all of their initial investments, let alone the paper profits, the Times said. When Madoff admitted his investment management business was a "big lie," he claimed to be holding $65 billion in profits made by his clients.

In his report, Picard said he had consolidated a dozen bank accounts held by the Madoff firm, holding a total of $580 million. Ruth Madoff has surrendered $80 million in property, including the Manhattan penthouse she and her husband shared.