Madoff trustee Sets $272 million payout date of Sept. 15

The liquidator of Bernard Madoff’s firm is planning an initial distribution of $272 million to investors holding allowed claims as of Sept. 15, according to a court filing.

Trustee Irving Picard intends to issue payments by the end of the third quarter, after reviewing allowed claims against the jailed con man, he said in July. The average check, arriving almost three years after the Ponzi scheme collapsed, will be $222,551, he said.

Holders of claims against Madoff that were sold or transferred will only receive distributions from Picard if the 21-day notice and objection period on the transfer has expired by Sept. 15, according to the filing.

Picard, who has filed more than 1,000 lawsuits seeking money for Madoff investors, in May allotted $2.6 billion to a fund for victims of the Ponzi scheme. Because of court challenges, most of the $8.6 billion he has raised isn’t currently available to put in the customer fund or distribute to claimholders who lost an estimated $17.3 billion in principal, he has said.

Madoff, 73, is in a federal prison in North Carolina, serving a 150-year sentence for the fraud. Picard and his law firm, Baker & Hostetler LLP, have made about $179 million in fees since Madoff’s 2008 arrest.