For Sale: Madoff’s Stock Trading Business

The man tasked with salvaging the remnants of the Madoff hedge fund business, Irving H. Picard, is hoping to sell the $50 billion Ponzi schemer’s legitimate stock trading business “by the end of next week.” Lazard Frères has been hired by Pickard to help find a buyer, reports The New York Times. Investment bankers estimate the Madoff business to be worth between $200 million and $400 million. Pickard is also trying to contact all Madoff customers who had dealings with the company within the last year and has made an urgent request to the court to subpoena witnesses and documents to determine what Madoff did with investors’ money. New allegations suggest Madoff was pulling in fresh investors—and at least $10 million in cash—within a week of his arrest on December 11 on federal fraud charges.