Madoff client list peppered with big names

Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Sandy Koufax, actor John Malkovich and World Trade Centre developer Larry Silverstein are among the well-known people who were customers of accused swindler Bernard Madoff, according to new court papers.

Among the thousands of others on the roster are US Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey; Fred Wilpon, owner of the New York Mets baseball team; imprisoned class-action lawyer Melvyn Weiss; Mr Madoff's sons, Mark and Andrew and their children as well as Madoff's brother, Peter.

Film-maker Steven Spielberg's Wunderkinder Foundation, Columbia University and the charity Jewish Funds for Justice are among other customers listed.

The 162-page document was filed late on Wednesday with the US Bankruptcy Court in New York as a court-appointed trustee liquidates Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC to recover assets for defrauded customers.

In all, five lists were filed with the court, labelled Customers, Vendors, Employees, Brokers/Dealers and Other Parties.

The customer list contains names and addresses of individuals and institutions. No details were included on the amounts of money invested. The lists were put together by AlixPartners LLP, a firm specialising in bankruptcy claims support that is assisting the trustee.

One of Mr Madoff's lawyers, Ira Lee Sorkin, is also named on the customer list.

Mr Sorkin declined to comment yesterday on whether he had invested with Madoff.

"I've been told it's a client list, and I've also been told it's a mailing list, so I think you need to check with the receiver or the trustee to determine whether these individuals are clients, customers, investors or just simply received mail," Mr Sorkin said.

"My position from day one has been I will not discuss present clients or former clients," he said.

The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which is examining Mr Madoff customer claims, was not immediately available for comment. A representative of the trustee, Irving Picard, could not be reached immediately.

The list provides new details about the clients that the once-respected Mr Madoff cultivated over the years - a roster sprinkled with names of people who live in affluent neighbourhoods of Manhattan and parts of South Florida including Palm Beach and Boca Raton. Mr Madoff long attracted clients through his reputation for posting amazingly consistent investment returns.

The Manhattan office of Mr Madoff's firm was declared a crime scene after the 70-year-old investment manager was arrested on December 11. Mr Madoff is accused in what authorities have described as the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. In a Ponzi scheme, early investors are paid with money from new investors.