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Madoff Victims' Checks Could Be In Mail This Summer

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - If you were a victim of Bernard Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme, there is some news you might want to hear.

WCBS 880's Jim Smith On The Story

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The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to the funding formula for the victims set forth by trustee Irving Picard, WCBS 880's Jim Smith reported.

That means only the so-called net losers will be eligible to get money back. Those are the investors who took out less money than they put in.

So, according to this, people aren't owed money they were misled into thinking they made.

Stephen Harbeck, president of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, which hired Picard, said it's the right thing to do.

"Helps the people who were hurt the most by Madoff's fraud," Harbeck told Smith. "In other words, the people who did not get their own money out of this fraudulent scheme are benefited by this a great deal."

So far, Picard has recovered more than $9 billion, but much of that is still tied up in appeals.

With the fraction of that money that is clear, Harbeck said they're hoping to get checks in the mail this summer.

"These people need the money and we're going to get it to them as fast as the legal process permits," Harbeck said.

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