Bernard Madoff's brother Peter gets access to $10,000 a month for living expenses under an agreement approved Friday in a lawsuit accusing him of swindling a college student.

Peter Madoff was in a Long Island courtroom to appeal a judge's order last week freezing his assets. That order came in a civil lawsuit filed by Andrew Ross Samuels, who claims Madoff took $478,000 of his trust fund and invested it in his brother Bernard's Ponzi scheme.

New York state Supreme Court Judge Stephen Bucaria approved giving Peter Madoff accesss to the money. The pact carries the same terms as a Justice Department document signed by Madoff on Dec. 24, in which he voluntarily agreed not to dispose of his substantial fortune and to curtail his personal spending until further notice.

He is permitted to spend $10,000 a month on living expenses, the judge said.

Madoff arrived late to the courtroom, entering only after the final terms of the deal were negotiated in the judge's chambers about an hour after the proceeding began.

He was briefly required to take the witness stand, where he answered yes in a hushed voice barely above a whisper to a series of questions from the judge.

Bucaria asked both Madoff and Samuels if they understood the terms of the agreement, and whether they were satisfied with the deal.

Terms of the federal agreement were first revealed earlier this week in a separate court proceeding in Brooklyn. The extent of Peter Madoff's holdings are not known; an attorney for Samuels noted that Madoff owns a home in Old Westbury, an exclusive Long Island community, which is valued between $3 million and $5 million.

Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty on March 12 to defrauding investors of billions of dollars in perhaps the largest Ponzi scheme ever and will be sentenced in June. Peter Madoff was an executive at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. He has not been charged with any crime.

Investors who lost their savings in Bernard Modoff's scam have been urging prosecutors to seek out any Madoff accomplices and seize the assets of any of his relatives who benefited from the crime.

"This is a very small step in trying to get a little bit of justice," said attorney Steven R. Schlesinger, who represents Samuels in the lawsuit. Samuels, 22, a student at Brooklyn Law School, contends his late grandfather invested $478,000 in trust fund money with Peter Madoff. After his grandfather's death in 2003, Samuels claims Madoff then invested the money in his brother's company.

His lawsuit claims Peter Madoff had "full knowledge" his brother was operating "a fraudulent Ponzi scheme and nothing more than an unprecedented fraud."

Samuels spoke briefly to reporters after the proceeding, saying "obviously I feel betrayed."

Madoff and his attorneys left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.

 

who? what? relevant how? must be a local issue...

 

We know who Burney Madoff is and the injustice that was done...but keep in mind this is mustangboards.com.
*Did not flag

 

thats rediculous.

So Peter takes Andrews trust fun and invests it into his brothers fradulent investment scheme, and andrew loses his $478,000 and is up **** creek

and all they do to peter is say "sorry buddy, but you can only spend 10,000 a month"...

so his punishment is to have his spending limited to 120,000 a year, after he frauded Andrew out of 478,000

 

That's bull. I think an asswhiping is in order for the brother.

 

Yeah its sad that a judge would allow him to have that money. Just goes to show you how screwed up the justice system is. Wouldn't be surprised if the dam judge got a kick back.

 

Both Madoff brothers need to be pistol whipped. And the judge also.

 

?? Thought this was the lounge where you could talk about anything???