The FINANCIAL — A Florida billionaire who was a top beneficiary of his longtime friend Bernard Madoff's $65bn (£40bn) Ponzi scheme died on October 25 after he was found lying at the bottom of the pool at his home, police said.
Picower's wife, Barbara, on Sunday discovered the 67-year-old's body at the bottom of the pool at their oceanside mansion and pulled him from the water with help from a housekeeper, authorities said, according to AP. He was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Medical Center at about 1:30 p.m. Palm Beach police are investigating the death as a drowning, but have not ruled out anything on the cause of death.
Picower had been accused by jilted investors of being the biggest beneficiary of Madoff's schemes, the same source reported. In a lawsuit to recover Madoff's assets, trustee Irving Picard demanded Picower return more than $7 billion in bogus profits. In an e-mailed statement Sunday, Picard said only that "litigation will continue." Jerry Reisman, an attorney representing about 26 victims, said Picower's death does make it more difficult for the trustee to recoup some of the money. "We won't be able to hear from his own words whether he was complicit," Reisman said.
In the last year Picower’s life had become a tangle of litigation arising from his disputed role in the Ponzi scheme operated by Madoff, who was arrested in December and pleaded guilty in March to operating a long-running fraud that cost thousands of victims billions of dollars, The New York Times informs.
An autopsy has been ordered to confirm the cause of death. William D. Zabel, a family lawyer, said that Picower had a history of “cardiac issues” and had Parkinson’s disease, according to the same source. Picower was a well-known Wall Street investor and, with his wife, was also a prominent philanthropist. They established the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2002, and their own charity, the Picower Foundation, had been contributing to education, medical research and human rights initiatives since 1989.
An accountant turned wealthy investor, Picower was a friend of Madoff's and was named in court papers as the biggest beneficiary of returns from the Wall Street fraudster's corrupt investment empire, Guardian reported.
A suit filed by lawyers for Irving Picard claimed that Picower was receiving even greater returns than other investors, topping 100% some years, and that the money ought to be refunded for distribution to the fraudster's victims, according to the same source. Picower's abrupt death is yet another tragic twist to the saga surrounding Madoff's record-breaking fraud, which has been blamed for at least two suicides among victims.
Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence after he admitted losing billions of dollars for thousands of clients over a half-century career that saw him rise to be a Nasdaq chairman. Madoff's attorney, Ira Sorkin, did not respond to a request for comment, AP reported. Jonathan Landers, an attorney representing a large group of victims, said in an e-mail that it was impossible to tell what effect Picower's death would have on efforts to recover funds lost in Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme.
"While there are allegations regarding his knowledge of the Madoff fraud and his possible liability to investors, none have been proven," he wrote, according to the same source. Landers added that even if such facts could be proved, Picower's "death could make it easier or more difficult to obtain and collect on claims." "It may cause those who have control of his assets to fight harder because there is no longer any personal dignity or desire to settle and move on," he wrote.
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