Madoff trustee begins new payout, total nears $9.5 billion

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - The court-appointed trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff's firm said he began on Thursday distributing another $190.2 million to fraud victims, boosting the total payout to about $9.47 billion.

Irving Picard, the trustee, said his seventh distribution will go to 972 former customers of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.

Individual payouts will range from $137 to $31.9 million.

Once the distribution is finished, 1,296, or roughly half, of the 2,597 Madoff accounts with valid claims will have been fully paid off, including all claims of $1.2 million or less, the trustee said.

Picard has estimated that Madoff customers lost $17.5 billion in a decades-long fraud uncovered in December 2008.

The trustee and lawyers at his firm, Baker & Hostetler, are still conducting a variety of litigation to recoup more money for victims.

Now 78, Madoff pleaded guilty to fraud in March 2009 and is serving a 150-year prison term.

A separate $4 billion fund set up by the U.S. Department of Justice will also compensate Madoff victims, including people who invested with him through third parties. It is not clear when payouts from that fund will begin.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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