SIPC liquidates Madoff's brokerage firm assets

BEIJING, Dec. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) is liquidating the assets of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC after federal prosecutors charged Bernard Madoff with securities fraud, according to media reports Tuesday.

SIPC said that a federal court has directed the liquidation proceedings and appointed Irving Picard as the trustee, and the law firm of Baker & Hostetler LLP as counsel to Picard.

Madoff, 70, who was well respected in the investment community after serving as chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market, was arrested last Thursday and had admitted squandering nearly 50 billion U.S. dollars from investors in the largest Ponzi Scheme in history.

The list of investors who say they were duped in the scheme includes some of the world's biggest banking institutions and hedge funds, the super rich and the famous, pensioners and charities.

SIPC said the federal court also signed an order asking for SIPC's protection for customers of Madoff's firm.

SIPC President and Chief Executive Stephen Harbeck, however, said in a statement that it is "unlikely that SIPC and the Trustee will be able to transfer the customer accounts of the firm to a solvent brokerage firm."

The agency also said it's too early to determine the size of misappropriated funds at this stage.

(Agencies)