Seven years after Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme imploded, the majority of Bernie Madoff's scam victims are going to get a big payback, officials said.
Those with claims deemed valid who invested up to $1.161 million "will get it back," following a new bankruptcy filing Tuesday morning, Stephen Harbeck, president and CEO of the Securities Investors Protection Corp., a federal nonprofit that protects investors in the event of an investment fund's collapse, told NBC News.
This includes 1,264 accounts out of a total of 2,227 -- or more than half of Madoff's total victims.
Though it was not the first redistribution to victims, nor the largest, Harbeck said this phase was personally satisfying to work on because of who it benefited.
"Unlike Lehman Brothers ... this hit the retail customers very hard," he said. "It's gratifying to be able to help individual investors."
Madoff plead guilty in March 2009 running a ponzi scheme fraud of up to $65 billion through his investment firm and is currently serving a 150-year prison sentence. His defrauded clients included the elderly and charities, especially Jewish philanthropic organizations.
