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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Trustee agrees to sell part of Madoff's business |
| 2009-03-29 |
| A court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff's assets announced on Friday he has reached a potential $15-million deal to sell a trading operation within the disgraced financier's firm. The agreement with Boston-based Castor Pollux Securities leaves open the possibility that the operation could go to a higher bidder before the sale is finalised, trustee Irving Picard said in a statement. Picard called the deal "a successful outcome of the broadly marketed sales process". Castor Pollux had no immediate comment. The trustee has been selling off Madoff's business assets -- including works of art in his midtown Manhattan office -- to cover thousands of claims brought by victims of the former Nasdaq chairperson's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. The market-making division managed by Madoff's brother and two sons was separate from the secretive investment advisory business central to the scam. At a forum last month for victims, Pickard said investigators had concluded the trading operation was legitimate and should be sold to the highest bidder. Under the terms of the deal, Castor Pollux would take over office equipment and data of the business but not the employees, who were fired on Friday. The firm would pay $500 000 at closing and then payments of up to $15-million in revenues from trades until 2012. "The structure of this transaction enables the Madoff victims to participate in future value derived from the assets acquired by Castor Pollux," Picard said. |
| Posted by:Fred |