Fresh off his $6.4 billion filing against JPMorgan Chase, Madoff Ponzi avenger Irving Picard is setting his sights on London-based bank HSBC. Picard is hitting up HSBC for $9 billion. He’s gone hyper-litigious of late, suing more than 100 people and institutions as a Dec. 11 deadline for filings to reclaim ill-gotten Madoff funds approaches.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
In a statement, Mr. Picard said HSBC and a network of feeder funds in Europe, the Caribbean and Central America directed more than $8.9 billion in the fraudulent investment advisory business to Mr. Madoff’s firm. He said they ignored indications that Mr. Madoff engaged in a fraud.
“Had HSBC and the defendants reacted appropriately to such warnings and other obvious badges of fraud outlined in the complaint, the Madoff Ponzi scheme would have collapsed years, billions of dollars and countless victims sooner,” Mr. Picard said in a statement. “The defendants were willfully and deliberately blind to the fraud, even after learning about numerous red flags surrounding Madoff.”
Big names have been proliferating as Picard’s campaign continues. With a few days left before the deadline, who else could get hit?
mtaylor [at] observer.com | @mbrookstaylor
