Madoff losses may affect 3 million worldwide, say lawyers

Up to three million people worldwide could be impacted by the  Bernard Madoff affair, lawyers representing claimants said today.

In an article in The Times,  Javier Cremades, president of Cremades Calvo-Sotelo,whose law firm has filed a US lawsuit in the name of 600 victims who claim they lost €120 million (£108.5 million) in total, said that over three million people could suffer losses and that overall amount involved could  be higher than the $50 billion estimated so far.

Cremades told The Times that  about 30 per cent of those who had lost out  may not yet be aware they were victims of Madoff, a  former chairman of Nasdaq, as it may be through small sums invested in pension funds.

The law  firm which has offices in Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Portugal, filed a class action lawsuit in Florida, in the name of people who invested in Madoff through a fund run by Banco Santander which owns Britain's Abbey, Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester, it reported.

The Spanish law firm claims Santander did not adequately scrutinise products offered by Madoff.

But, according to the newspaper,  Santander said in a statement that it acted with “due diligence”. The bank admitted having €2.33 billion in client funds exposed to Madoff and that it had  lost €17 million in the alleged fraud.

It has offered  €1.38 billion to reimburse private clients who lost money related to investments in its Optimal fund but  has not offered to reimburse institutional investors.

Lawyers for Cremades Calvo-Sotelo claim Madoff's  investors are represented in  many countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Switzerland, South Africa, Mexico and Israel.