Madoff Trustee Seeks $20.4M from Two Ex-Partners at Milberg Weiss
When former partners at the law firm Milberg Weiss turned up on a list of Bernard Madoff investors last year, there was some speculation that they had lost money along with other Ponzi scheme victims.
Indeed, a lawyer for Melvyn Weiss said at the time that his client was “bitterly disappointed” to learn he is the victim of a fraud.
But a new lawsuit by Irving Picard, the trustee overseeing the bankruptcy of Madoff’s investment company, says Weiss and another Milberg partner, David Bershad, earned fictitious profits of $20.4 million from the disgraced money manager, and they should have to return the money, Bloomberg reports.
Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence for a $65 billion Ponzi scheme.
Weiss and Bershad left the law firm now known as Milberg and pleaded guilty to paying kickbacks to lead plaintiffs in class actions. Weiss was sentenced to 30 months in prison and Bershad to six months in prison.
Bloomberg contacted Weiss in Boca Raton, Fla. He said he had no prior information about the suit and he had no comment. Bershad didn’t immediately return a call from Bloomberg.
