--- title: Madoff Ponzi Scheme Victims to Get Everything Back Up to $1 Million description: A court ruled today that victims would get most of their money back. authors: - name: Ethan Wolff-Mann url: https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 160 covers: - Investing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Lifestyle - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/ewolffmann former_staff: true published: '2015-10-20T21:22:32.000Z' modified: '2015-10-20T21:22:32.000Z' section: Investing tags: - Bernie Madoff - Ponzi Scheme - pubdesk word_count: 272 canonical: https://money.com/madoff-ponzi-scheme-victims-get-million/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Bernie Madoff Settlement](https://img.money.com/2015/10/gettyimages-84294097.jpg) *Bernard L. Madoff leaves US Federal Court January 14, 2009 after a hearing regarding his bail in New York.* Seven years ago, investment manager [Bernie Madoff was revealed](http://www.businessinsider.com/how-bernie-madoffs-ponzi-scheme-worked-2014-7) to be running a huge, multi-billion-dollar [Ponzi scheme](http://www.sec.gov/answers/ponzi.htm), a fraud which pays investors illusory high returns using the cash raked in from new marks. When such a scheme collapses, most investors are left holding the bag with big losses. But now it looks like some people who invested with him could get all their money back. As long as they invested less than $1,161,000. On Tuesday, a motion in a New York City bankruptcy court declared that the current round of restitution will pay back up to that sum, according to Securities Investors Protection Corporation president and CEO Stephen Harbeck ,who [told ABC News](http://abcnews.go.com/US/payback-bernie-madoff-ponzi-scheme-victims-1m/story?id=34585122). It will be the sixth distribution of money recovered from the $17 billion scheme that collapsed in 2008. About 56% of Madoff victims have claims of less than $1,161,000, [according to SIPC](http://www.sipc.org/news-and-media/news-releases/20151020). People who invested invested more than than that amount may ultimately get only 61% of the difference, Harbeck told ABC. He declared even that much a "major victory." The money comes from the $11 billion that was [recovered by officials](http://fortune.com/2014/11/17/new-settlement-pushes-recovery-for-madoff-fraud-victims-to-over-10-billion/), mostly thanks to the widow of Madoff's accomplice Jeffrey Picower, who returned $7.2 billion that wasn't hers. Getting the rest of the money back hasn't been so easy, however, tallying up about $1 billion of legal fees and counting. The trustee appointed by the court to track down the funds sees this as a necessary evil, telling ABC News that despite the enormous legal fees, it's still "a very good return on an investment." Recovering $11 billion for $1 billion? 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