HSBC agreed on Tuesday to pay $62.5 million to settle class action claims by investors in a fund that had invested with Bernard L. Madoff, who was jailed for fraud.
HSBC, which was named as a defendant in several lawsuits, serviced several funds outside the United States, including the Thema International Fund in Ireland, which invested assets with Mr. Madoff’s firm. HSBC had acted as a custodian and provided administration and other services, the banks said in a statement.
The settlement with the Thema fund investors is “without any admission of wrongdoing or liability,” said HSBC, one of Europe’s largest banks.
In 2009, Mr. Madoff was found guilty of running a huge Ponzi scheme. He is now serving a sentence of 150 years.
HSBC estimates that Thema investors lost about $312 million by investing with Mr. Madoff. Assets across all such funds totaled about $4.3 billion, the bank said.
The bank said the settlement covered the Thema fund. In regard to other Madoff-related claims, HSBC said it “has good defenses,” and it “will continue to defend the other Madoff-related proceedings vigorously.”
Irving H. Picard, the trustee for the victims of Mr. Madoff’s scheme, sued HSBC and some funds that invested with Mr. Madoff for $9 billion in December.
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=aaf252c49a723b781b432a6d40488041
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