White Plains firm seals $219M Madoff settlement

A federal judge has approved a $219 million settlement in a class action lawsuit negotiated by a White Plains law firm on behalf of upstate unions and other bilked clients of investment funds that fed convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff”™s securities company.  

The settlement in the feeder fund cases was negotiated by partners at Lowey Dannenberg Cohen & Hart P.C. The firm represented three upstate union locals that were lead plaintiffs in two class actions that were part of the complex litigation.

The related cases centered on Ivy Asset Management, a Jericho, Long Island company with longstanding business ties to Madoff  that steered its client firms to invest in Madoff”™s Wall Street company. The defendants included two asset management companies started by White Plains attorneys and investment advisers Joel Danziger and Harris Markhoff.

Lowey Dannenberg partner Barbara Hart, lead counsel in the litigation, has said the settlement represents about a 70 percent recovery of net dollars invested by the plaintiffs in Madoff”™s Ponzi scheme. She called it the largest ever negotiated by the firm.

Attorney Thomas Skelton at Lowey Dannenberg in a statement said the settlement. combined with money expected to be recovered from a separate liquidation of Madoff assets, is expected to restore the bulk of losses for the unions and other plaintiffs.

Hart said the attorneys”™”™ goal now is “to get the money to the class members in record time.”

U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon when approving the settlement praised the attorneys for their hard work “to get a global resolution of all of these cases.” She called the settlement process, which produced no objections to the proposed payout, “quite extraordinary.”     .

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