SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- The estate of Stanley Chais, a well-known money manager and business associate of Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, will return some $277 million to bilked investors in a deal announced Friday.
Chais, who was one of Madoff's earliest investors, denied knowing anything about the Ponzi scheme and insisted he had been duped as well, but multiple lawsuits were filed against him. He died in 2010. The estate announced it will pay some $262 million to Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee liquidating Madoff's firm, and $15 million to California's attorney general to resolve a class-action lawsuit.