A law firm employing the trustee winding down Bernard Madoff's
investment firm has won court approval to be paid $20.3 million of
additional fees, pushing its total to $50.9 million for 13-1/2 months of
work.
In an order made public on Thursday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge
Burton Lifland in Manhattan authorized the additional payment to Baker
& Hostetler LLP, plus reimbursement of $390,200 of expenses,
covering the Oct. 1, 2009 to Jan. 31, 2010 period.
Baker &
Hostetler has been awarded $59.8 million of fees overall, but is
deferring 15 percent, or $9 million, until the liquidation of Bernard L.
Madoff Investment Securities LLC is complete, court records show.
Irving
Picard, the court-appointed trustee and a Baker & Hostetler
partner, has been trying to recover assets for victims of Madoff and his
estimated $65 billion Ponzi scheme. He has separately been awarded
$1.93 million in fees.
Lifland's order came over the objections of
some Madoff victims. They believe Picard either undervalues some
claims, allows claims to be paid too slowly, or has a conflict of
interest because he also represents the interests of the Securities
Investor Protection Corp against the victims.
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