The cash pot available to compensate victims of Bernie Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme has grown by $7.2 billion after a settlement was reached with the estate of a Palm Beach client of the Wall Street shyster. –JCL

The New York Times:

Federal prosecutors and the trustee charged with recovering assets in the Bernard L. Madoff bankruptcy, announced a settlement Friday that would add $7.2 billion to the cash available to compensate victims of Mr. Madoff’s global Ponzi scheme.

Details of the agreement with the estate of Jeffry M. Picower, a Palm Beach philanthropist who died in October 2009, were released Friday at a news conference in Lower Manhattan.

The settlement “will return every penny received from almost 35 years of investing with Bernard Madoff,” Mr. Picower’s wife, Barbara, said in a statement through her lawyer, William D. Zabel of Schulte Roth & Zabel.

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