SEC attorney sued over Ponzi profits

NEW YORK, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- The victims' trustee in the largest U.S. Ponzi scheme on record has filed suit against a Securities and Exchange Commission attorney, court papers show.

The suit was filed by court-appointed trustee Irving Picard against David Becker, SEC senior general counsel and policy director, and his two brothers, CNNMoney.com reported Wednesday.

SEC spokesman John Nester said Becker "was not involved in his parents' financial affairs and has no recollection to his parents' involvement in Madoff."

The suit claims the Beckers' estate withdrew $2 million from convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff's company and that "$1,544,494 of this amount was fictitious profit from the Ponzi scheme."

"Accordingly, defendants have received $1,544,494 of other people's money," the lawsuit says.

Becker's father died in 2000 and his mother died in 2004. The lawsuit covers business dealings with Madoff between 2002 and 2008, court documents say.

Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence having pleaded guilty in March 2009 to operating a Ponzi scheme that ran for about 16 years. Losses on the fraud are estimated as $20 billion cash with a paper value of $65 billion.