It seems you can make big bucks helping others.
The people responsible for liquidating Bernie Madoff’s assets and distributing the proceeds to victims of his Ponzi scheme are on track to earn more than $37.7 million for less than a year’s work.
Yesterday, bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard and his law firm, Baker & Hostetler, asked a US judge to grant them a whopping $22.1 million in fees for five months of work ended in September. The firm requested $21.28 million plus $280,682 in expenses for acting as counsel to Picard.
That includes a 10 percent “public interest discount” from the firm’s normal rates.
Baker & Hostetler, where Picard is a partner, was previously awarded $14.66 million in fees as well as $274,203 in expenses for the work done between December 2008 — when the scam was first uncovered — and the end of April.
Picard is also asking for a personal salary of $835,605 for the same five-month period, according to documents filed with the New York bankruptcy court. Picard got $759,229 for work he did through the end of April.
