Irving Picard, the Securities Investor Protection Act trustee for the liquidation of Bernard Madoff Investment Securities, announced the fourth pro rata interim distribution of recoveries from the Customer Fund to eligible BLMIS customers yesterday.

Irving Picard, the Securities Investor Protection Act trustee for the liquidation of Bernard Madoff Investment Securities, announced the fourth pro rata interim distribution of recoveries from the Customer Fund to eligible BLMIS customers yesterday.

The SIPA trustee is distributing approximately $351.6 million on a pro rata basis to BLMIS account holders with allowed claims, bringing the amount distributed to eligible claimants to almost $6 billion.

“Today’s distribution is another important step forward for our recovery efforts,” said Picard in a statement from the Madoff Recovery Initiative. “We are already looking ahead to additional, significant recoveries and distributions later this year. While more than 1,100 victims have already recovered the full principal they lost in the fraud, we are working to restore all of the stolen funds to all of the approved claimants as quickly as possible.”

The average payment for an allowed claim issued in the fourth distribution will total some $325,000. The smallest payment totals approximately $500 and the largest payment is around $77.8 million.

Funds from the $325 million settlement with JP Morgan Chase, other smaller settlements and recoveries that have been released from reserves through the end of March 2014 comprise the bulk of the funds to be distributed in the fourth distribution.

To date, Picard has recovered or reached agreements to recover about $9.800 billion since his appointment in December 2008.