NY Madoff Investor Gets New Shot At Ex's Cash
NEW YORK (AP) -- A New York appeals court has revived a lawyer's bid to take back millions of dollars he paid in a divorce settlement before losing money he'd invested with convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff.
Tuesday's decision reinstates Steven Simkin's lawsuit against ex-wife Laura Blank. A lower court had thrown it out.
The couple's 2006 divorce deal included $6.6 million in payments from Simkin to Blank.
Simkin wants the amount reduced. He says about $2.7 million of that was essentially his ex-wife's share of a Madoff account. It turned out to be worthless when Madoff's Ponzi scheme collapsed.
Blank's lawyer and a dissenting appellate judge say the Madoff account had value when her husband bargained to keep it.
They claim any losses after that don't count.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
