Madoff's Debts Still Snowballing - Enter the Legal Fees
According to Reuters, today, "Bernard Madoff's bankruptcy trustee and the law firm employing him submitted a $22.1 million legal bill covering five months of work."
Baker & Hostetler LLP wants $21.28 million, and court-appointed trustee Irving Picard, the partner at Baker & Hostetler who is overseeing the liquidation of Madoff's professional and personal assets (that includes the auctions), wants $835,605 separately. Picard has "recovered $1.4 billion of assets, just 7 percent of the $21.2 billion of investor losses he had found."
When lawyers want their clients to get paid, that's one thing. When lawyers their own paycheck, it's another entirely. What do you think? Should they only get 7 percent of their bills paid? Perhaps that would reinvigorate their desire to find out, while liquidating, where the money really went.
[via Reuters]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Andi Nov 23rd 2009 7:36PM
Seeing as they were stupid enough to actually represent that crook, they should lose out.
Ed Nov 23rd 2009 7:51PM
They rendered a service and thus should be compensated for it.
Stephen Riggs Nov 23rd 2009 9:32PM
Actually, they should not be compensated for that service.
The ones who should be compensated first and foremost are the ones who lost their money. Lets be real here, Madoff had/has no money of his own to pay these fees, it was all stolen in the first place.
You cant work for a crook then hope to be paid with someone elses money.
robert Nov 24th 2009 8:58AM
The law firm isn't working for Madoff. They are working on behalf of the gov't/suckers.
Jack Nov 24th 2009 10:19AM
They are working on behalf of the bankruptcy trustee. Someone has to do teh work, and obviously, no one is going to do it for free.
Doesn't mean the bills aren't excessive - they likely are. But they deserve to be paid fairly for their work.