Bernie Madoff is in prison, serving a 150-year sentence after pleading guilty to numerous felony charges for bilking investors out of billions of dollars. However, just because the drawn-out criminal case is over does not mean the matter is resolved. Far from it.
According to an article from Forbes, victims of Madoff’s scheme have yet to receive any money from the $4 billion fund set up to repay them 5 years ago.
Someone Is Getting Paid, And It’s Not The Victims
While the victims still have not received any money, it appears as though the firm charged with managing the fund has been paid quite substantially: $39 million. Certainly things like this take time, particularly considering the complexity of this scheme, the number of victims and the amount of money involved. Still, it has been 5 years.
One congressman finds this unacceptable, because of the number of people whose lives were left in shambles, without retirement money and out their life savings. Vern Buchanan of Florida has sent a message to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and is hoping to get answers and payback for Madoff’s victims.
Winning A Criminal Case Is Not The End
This situation illustrates the reality that winning a criminal case involving a ponzi scheme, investor fraud, securities fraud or a similar type of fraud does not automatically repair all the damage done by the criminals, particularly when the bill for that damage runs into the billions of dollars. There is much more work that needs to be done even after the criminals are behind bars to see that innocent victims get the restitution they deserve.