SEATTLE (AP) — Nearly seven years after Bernie Madoff’s investment empire was revealed to be a $17.5 billion fraud, the battle by investors to recover their losses ramps up in a case that goes to trial this week in Seattle.
A Washington state investment company is seeking to pin about $100 million of its losses from Madoff’s crimes on auditor Ernst & Young.
FutureSelect Portfolio Management of Redmond and some related firms, headed by hedge fund manager Ronald Ward, lost a total of about $129 million in the pyramid scheme.
In court papers, the company alleges that Ernst & Young would have uncovered the scheme if it had taken even the most basic steps to verify Madoff’s assets — something the auditing firm denies it had any obligation to do.
Madoff revealed his fraud in December 2008 amid a collapsing economy, admitting that account statements showing clients held nearly $68 billion were a sham.
Madoff, now 77, pleaded guilty to fraud charges a few months later and was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
