Attorneys Battle Madoff Trustee and Support the Victims

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 21, 2009 -- The Madoff Coalition for Investor Protection ("MCFIP") is pleased to announce that numerous briefs have been filed in the United State Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York in opposition to the trustee’s motion for an order upholding the trustee’s determination denying customer claims for amounts listed on their last account statement.

The briefs concern an issue of vital importance to every investor in the United States. The briefs set forth that Irving Picard, Trustee, and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation ("SIPC") have no legal authority for re-defining "net equity" so as to save money for SIPC which, by law, is required to insure customer accounts of SEC-regulated broker/dealers up to $500,000 against the dishonesty of a broker.

The firms filing briefs include Phillips Nizer LLP, Davis Polk Wardwell LLP, Shearman & Sterling LLP, Schule Roth & Zabel, LLP, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, LLP, Milberg Weiss LLP, Lax Neville LLP, Bernfeld, Dematteo & Bernfeld LLP, Morrison Cohen LLP, and Lawrence Velvel.

The attorneys acted independently yet the briefs all echoed the same theme-that being that the trustee, Irving Picard is working in an inconsistent manner with what Congress intended when it created SIPC in 1970. Picard’s actions, contrary to SIPC’s history and ignoring case law, will deny SIPC coverage to more than half of Madoff victims.

The briefs state that the Trustee has no legal authority for the position he is taking and that his position contradicts 38 years of SIPC's history, as well as positions taken by SIPC in its brochures, on its websites, and in court submissions over 38 years.

The hearing is scheduled for February 2, and The Coalition anxiously awaits the ruling of Judge Lifland to determine whether Irving Picard will act to follow the attorney’s recommendations to use the statutory definition of “net equity” that currently exists. The Bankruptcy Court will decide the issue on February 2, 2009, after which the matter will undoubtedly be appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

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