All's Well That Ends Well

According to the New York Times, Jeffrey Picower's will is "expected to be filed" today (Tuesday). The legal wrangling around the late Mr. Picower's estate should provide us with plenty of insight into clawbacks and how they may effect charities and others.

Here is a link to the New York Times piece:

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/trustee-may-win-billions-for-investors-in-madoff/

From reading this story, it sounds All's Well That Ends Well. Madoff is off brawling with drug dealers in jail for the next 150 years and the Picower estate is already negotiating with trustee Picard (hard to believe Picower only passed away a little over two weeks ago). If the estate can successfully negotiate a settlement with Picard - which they appear likely to do, then any speculation about third party beneficiaries of Picower's philanthropy would be mute.

My hunch is that Picard's clawback lawsuits will only go after direct beneficiaries of Madoff's operations, and only for large amounts (hundreds of millions and up).