NEW YORK (AP) -- The trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff's assets says he's received almost 9,000 claims from the disgraced financier's victims.
Court-appointed trustee Irving Picard told reporters Thursday on a conference call that he's identified about $1 billion in assets that will be used to pay the claims.
And Bernard Madoff's family members could end up having to pay his victims. Picard says legal action against family members is "a matter that's being looked into."
Picard has already filed lawsuits to try to get hedge funds and other large investors to repay more thn $10 billion in fictitious profits that were paid by Madoff's firm. The suits allege that these customers should have known about the fraud.
He says people who were paid money by Madoff were getting money that was stolen from others.
In court filings, Picard has alleged that Madoff family members and key employees used investor money to finance a lavish lifestyle. Madoff has claimed that the others were in the dark about what he was doing.
Madoff pleaded guilty in March to charges that his investment advisory operation was a massive Ponzi scheme. He facesup to 150 years in prison at his sentencing June 29.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
