NEW YORK — Bernard Madoff’s brother, sons and a niece used the family finance business like a “piggy bank,” a court-appointed trustee charged Friday as he demanded in a lawsuit that they return almost $200 million in money to be distributed to cheated investors. The trustee, Irving Picard, sought $198.7 million from Madoff’s brother, Peter, who had worked at Madoff’s Manhattan investment company since 1965, and sons, Mark and Andrew.
Also sued was Shana D. Madoff, Bernard Madoff’s niece and Peter Madoff’s daughter. None of the family members immediately returned a phone call for comment.
Attorneys for Picard said in papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan that each of the family members withdrew huge sums of money to fund personal business ventures and to pay for personal expenses, including multimillion dollar homes and monthly credit card charges. The Associated Press
