Despite objections from federal prosecutors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Trustee for the Liquidation of Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities, U.S. District Court Judge Louis Stanton ruled that the alleged victims may go after Madoff's assets that were not proceeds from his crimes.
The judge, of the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, said the U.S. bankruptcy code is the best and most experienced system to deal with the claims against Madoff's assets, excluding those that prosecutors may force him to forfeit as proceeds from a crime.
"A Bankruptcy Trustee has direct rights to Mr. Madoff's individual property, with the ability to maximize the size of the estate available to Mr. Madoff's creditors through his statutory authority to locate assets, avoid fraudulent transfers and preserve or increase the value of the assets through investment or sale," Stanton wrote in his opinion.