Madoff Trustee Amends JP Morgan Lawsuit, Now Seeking $19 Billion

Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff's investment firm, announced late Friday that he had filed an amended complaint against JP Morgan.  While Picard had originally sought $5.4 billion, the amended complaint seeks life-to-date damages of $19 billion, along with $1 billion in fraudulent transfers.  Picard has also included a request for a jury trial.

The amended complaint includes new allegations to the case against JP Morgan, including the assertion that "not only should have known that a fraud was being perpetrated, they did know."  Attorneys for Picard cite numerous red flags that should have alerted JP Morgan to the fraud, including the visible transfer of funds between customer accounts, contradictory regulatory filings, and the revelation that an unnamed financial institution closed its accounts with Madoff after receiving unsatisfactory questions to a due diligence review.

Picard filed the amended complaint in response to JP Morgan's motion seeking to have the original complaint dismissed on June 1, 2011.  JP Morgan must file a response to the amended complaint by August 1, 2011.