The fallout of Bernie Madoff’s infamous Ponzi scheme is still wreaking havoc on lives as the estate’s trustee takes aim at a swanky Greenwich Village condo owned by a New York power couple.
Irving Picard, the lawyer who’s already clawed back nearly $15 billion for Madoff’s defrauded investors, is pressing attorney Malcolm Sage and his wife, cosmetics executive Lynne Florio, to surrender two of the three units they combined decades ago at 45 Christopher Street, the New York Post reported.
A court found in 2022 that Sage was among the rare “net winners” from Madoff’s $65 billion fraud, pocketing $16.9 million more than he invested.
Picard argues that since the apartments were never legally merged, he can seize the 1,210- and 902-square-foot units, which he values at a combined $4.6 million. That would leave Sage and Florio in a 930-square-foot one-bedroom unit, a far cry from the 3,000-square-foot spread they’ve enjoyed for decades in one of the Village’s most coveted Art Deco buildings.
The couple, who once moved in New York’s social circuit and were fixtures at galas, are now fighting the case without legal counsel. They insist the units can’t be physically divided and accuse Picard of misleading the judge, calling the clawback “a fraud on the court.” Picard’s team countered that New Yorkers combine and separate apartments all the time and that Sage’s holdings are the only viable way to enforce the judgment.
The push underscores how far Picard is still going, 17 years after Madoff’s fund imploded, to recover money for thousands of victims, including celebrities, sports stars and major institutions. Sage’s siblings have already quietly settled similar clawback claims. Sage and Florio are not accused of criminal wrongdoing or possessing knowledge of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
It’s another reminder that Manhattan luxury property is still feeling the effects of the Madoff fallout.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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