Family members of admitted fraudster Bernard Madoff have insisted that they, too, are victims of the historic Ponzi scheme, and moved late Monday to dismiss a civil complaint alleging that they helped facilitate the fraud.
Bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard sued the family members in October, seeking nearly $200 million to return to investors. But attorneys for sons Andrew and Mark Madoff, brother Peter Madoff and niece Shana Madoff filed separate motions blasting the Picard complaint as sensationalistic, and asking that it be thrown out.
Attorney for Andrew and Mark Madoff, Martin Flumenbaum, argued in a 57-page filing that the sons are "victims of their father's terrible crimes."
Flumenbaum noted that the sons reported the scam to authorities within hours after their father confessed to them December 10, 2008, and called Picard's complaint "an exercise in gross overreaching" that is "long on rhetoric and short on legal or factual support."
Meanwhile, Peter Madoff's attorney, Charles Spada, said his client is "devastated" by the scandal.
"Peter Madoff is not Bernard Madoff," Spada writes, noting that the arrest of Bernard Madoff "abruptly terminated Peter Madoff's successful career," leaving him "mired in litigation."
