Going back as far as 13 years, there is no evidence that the firm of accused swindler Bernard Madoff bought securities for customer accounts, the trustee liquidating the firm to recover assets said on Friday according to Reuters. In the first meeting of creditors of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, a lawyer for the court-appointed trustee said his staff was "looking at every Madoff family member and every insider associated with the Madoff firm" as part of the effort to find assets. Madoff, a once-respected Wall Street trader and investment adviser, was arrested and charged with securities fraud on Dec. 11 after authorities said he confessed to running a global Ponzi scheme with losses of $50 billion. A Ponzi scheme is one in which early investors are paid off with the money of new clients. All Madoff's assets were frozen and his firm is being liquidated by court order. The meeting for Madoff creditors -- including individual investors, banks, charities and others -- was attended by about 100 people and was at times emotional. About 2,350 customer claims had been filed through Thursday. The deadline for filing all claims is July 2. The lawyers said creditors were entitled to recover money invested, but none of the phantom profits.
