Susan Elkin, the late Mark Madoff's ex-wife, challenged a bid by Madoff trustee Irving Picard to name her in an amended complaint against the family.  She claims his effort to recover money is “time-barred” as it was received beyond the 6 years allowed by New York law.

Mark Madoff, son of Bernie Madoff, who took his own life in December 2010, married Elkin in 1989;  they divorced in 2000, more than 8 years before Madoff’s 2008 arrest and the bankruptcy of his firm.  Ms. Elkin presented those facts on Thursday in a bankruptcy court filing in Manhattan.

The Madoff trustee, Irving Picard, knew of the marriage and can’t “plausibly claim,” as he has tried to do, that he would have named her in the original complaint if he hadn’t mistaken her identity, she said. Attorney Martin Flumenbaum, who represents Andrew Madoff and Mark Madoff’s estate, concurred with Ms. Elkin's position, adding that the trustee's lawsuit is “wholly without merit.”  Picard’s spokeswoman, Amanda Remus, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on Elkin’s filing. The case is: Picard v. Estate of Mark Madoff, 09-01503, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). [Bloomberg, 2/24/12]