At Least Someone Is Doing The Right Thing

The folks who got duped out of their life savings by Bernie Madhoff got an unexpected early Christmas gift when the widow of a Florida philanthropist, who had reaped a chunk of the money from Madhoff's Ponzi scheme, agreed to return $7.2 billion from her late husband's estate to a trust set up for the victims. From the AP:

Federal prosecutors reached the settlement with the estate of Jeffry Picower, a businessman who drowned at age 67 after suffering a heart attack in the swimming pool of his Palm Beach, Fla. mansion in October 2009. Picower was the single biggest beneficiary of Madhoff's fraud.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharra called the forfeiture the largest in Justice Department history and a "game changer" for those swindled by Madhoff.

"We will return every penny received from almost 35 years of investing with Bernard Madhoff," Barbara Picower said in a statement. "I believe the Madhoff Ponzi scheme was deplorable, and I am deeply saddened by the tragic impact it continues to have on the lives of its victims. It is my hope that this settlement will ease that suffering."

The settlement means roughly half of the $20 billion that investors entrusted to Madhoff has now been recovered, authorities said.

It's too bad Tim Durham doesn't have the compassion for his victims as Picower had for the Madhoff victims. A bankruptcy trustee for his failed Fair Finance Company expects to recover no more than one percent of the more than $200 million small investors in rural Ohio lost from Durham's Ponzi scheme. At least Madhoff owned up to his fraud immediately and agreed to spend the rest of his life in prison. Durham is still a free man in denial and continuing to live a lavish lifestyle out in L.A. as his victims go through their second Christmas after having their life savings wiped out.