WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- A Boston dress manufacturer who was one of Bernard Madoff's earliest investors has agreed to forfeit $625 million, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday.
Carl Shapiro, 97, made money from Madoff's Ponzi scheme because he withdrew much of his ostensible investment profits, prosecutors said. Madoff, now serving a 150-year prison term, fleeced investors for decades by using money put into Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC to pay dividends.
Shapiro first invested with Madoff in the late 1960s. The Boston Globe reported Shapiro started with a $21 million stake from the sale of his clothing company, Kay Windsor, and parlayed it into a fortune of about $1 billion with Madoff.
The Justice Department said the amount Shapiro and his wife agreed to, $625 million, is more than the amount the couple took out of the Madoff fund and more than their current net worth. The settlement means they will avoid any civil claims by the government, although it does not protect them from criminal liability.
