[ by Melanie Gretchen ] Irving Picard, the trustee responsible for liquidating Madoff & Co., and who has been credited for "collecting" billions for Ponzi scheme victims, has managed to be the largest beneficiary of anyone involved in the case.  To date, total administrative costs - which cover Picard's fees, legal fees of his firm's partners, associates and staff, plus the cost of consultants he's hired - amount to $554 million.  The payouts to Madoff victims: $330 million.

For every $1 paid out, 62.5.¢ has gone to Mr. Picard and other non-victims. Please allow us to share some bigger numbers - some of which Mr. Picard tossed around in this 4/25/12 report.

Status Update. Irving Picard, who just last year said he hoped to pay Madoff investors as much as $65 billion, has had just $2.6 billion in available funds for customers.  $330 million has been paid out, as noted above, while $2.3 billion is currently held in customer accounts.  Some $6.4 billion that Mr. Picard has won in settlements with former Madoff investors is being challenged in court and is unavailable for disbursement.  It should be noted that customers have received about $800 million from the insurance program of the SIPC. On top of that, Mr. Picard's strategy of filing $100 billion of lawsuits to claw back money from Madoff winners has largely collapsed.  SIPC, which is funded by the major brokerage firms, no longer expects Mr. Picard to pay all currently allowed claims of $17.3 billion in full - based on current trustee assets, lawsuits filed and estimated possibilities for recovering arising from the litigation.  Even if Mr. Picard gets all of the $9 billion he says he has raised, he would need another $8 billion or so to pay the claims - that, according to the Government Accounting Office. The case: Picard v. Katz, 11-cv-03605, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). For further details, go to [Bloomberg, 4/30/12].