Although $10 million is a lot of money, it’s not much compared with $50 billion in lost investments. The $10 million figure represents the upper limit of the current value of Bernard Madoff’s businesses, which Madoff had valued at $826 million before his proverbial fall. It doesn’t look good for his defrauded investors’ chances of reclaiming much of their missing funds.

Bloomberg:

The Madoffs valued their net worth Dec. 31 at $826 million, including $700 million for Madoff’s ownership in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, according to a March 13 court filing. The firm’s brokerage has since been valued at no more than $10 million, according to Larry Tabb, founder of TABB Group, a financial-market research and advisory firm. The firm’s money management unit is likely to be unsaleable, analysts said.

“The $700 million number is probably a figment of Madoff’s imagination,” said Stephen Harbeck, president of the Securities Investors Protection Corp., which is overseeing the liquidation of Madoff’s New York-based brokerage. “He put that value on the business while he was still conducting the fraud.”

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