$534m paid out to victims of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme

In a call with reporters yesterday, Picard said he has so far identified allowable claims totaling $4.43 billion and is still processing thousands of claims filed by alleged victims. To date, he has identified 2,335 investment accounts with net losses of $21.2 billion with Madoff.

Picard said his staff has found 2,568 investors who withdrew more money from Madoff accounts than they originally invested. Those investors are vulnerable to what is called clawbacks - demands that they return some of the money they made. Picard said he has recovered $1.4 billion so far and expects to file more lawsuits to force the return of money some investors unknowingly made at the expense of others.

“There definitely will be further lawsuits,’’ he said. But he said his office would not go after people with serious medical conditions or those at risk of losing their homes. “We’re not going to be suing people who don’t have money,’’ he said.

Picard called the death of philanthropist Jeffry Picower - who suffered a heart attack in his swimming pool during the weekend - “tragic.’’

“No one would have expected that,’’ he said. Still, his office plans to press ahead with litigation to reclaim some of the $7.2 billion Picower allegedly withdrew from Madoff accounts. No other investor, possibly even Madoff, profited so much from the Ponzi scheme, Picard said.

Locally, the Shapiros, who run the nonprofit Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, are likely targets of a clawback. Carl Shapiro was one of Madoff’s early investors and amassed a fortune, largely based on Madoff’s handling of his money.

The Shapiros have acknowledged losing at least $545 million to Madoff - $145 million of it from the family’s foundation. But if they withdrew more money from Madoff than they invested, Picard could go after those funds.

The Shapiros’ son-in-law, Robert Jaffe, worked for Madoff, helping to bring investors into his funds. Jaffe and Shapiro have said they had no knowledge of the Ponzi scheme, in which new investors’ money was used to pay off previous investors.

The $534 million paid out so far to victims is more than the insurance fund, the Securities Investor Protection Corp., has paid out in all of its 321 prior liquidations combined, according to the corporation’s chief executive, Stephen Harbeck. The fund was established by Congress in 1970. Under the law, individuals can receive a maximum of $500,000.

Beth Healy can be reached at bhealy@globe.com.