2.  It's All In the Family: Trustee Files $198 Million Lawsuit Against Madoffs

A court-appointed trustee has filed a $198 million lawsuit against Bernie Madoff's sons, brother, and niece in connection with Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme. The family members, who all held high-ranking positions in Madoff's investment firm, stand accused of participating in the fraud and using the company as a "family piggy bank." Trustee Irving Picard, who also sued Madoff's wife, Ruth, for $44.8 million in July, filed the suit in a New York bankruptcy court earlier today. Family members have denied accusations that they were aware of Madoff's misconduct and claimed that they only learned of the scheme when Madoff disclosed it in December. According to Reuters, the trustee has already recovered $1.5 billion in lost assets, and his lawyers expect that this number will gradually increase. "Simply put," the lawsuit stated, "if the Family Members had been doing their jobs honestly and faithfully the Madoff Ponzi scheme might never have succeeded, or continued for so long."

Read original story in Bloomberg | Friday, Oct. 2, 2009