$75 million of Madoff Assets located in Gibraltar

According to the New York Post, a lawyer for the trustee seeking to locate assets belonging to self-confessed Wall Street scammer Bernie Madoff said today that more than $1 billion has been located - far less than the staggering $64 billion the feds said he stole from investors.

Lawyer David Sheehan said $75 million has been located in an account in Gibraltar, raising to $1 billion the amount a trustee has recovered for investors.

David Sheehan, a lawyer acting for Irving Picard, who was appointed by the Securities Investor Protection Corp. to unwind Madoff’s businesses, also said at a court hearing today that French authorities may soon seek to seize Madoff’s chateau in that country, which is worth about $1.6 million.

Sheehan’s disclosure came at a court hearing where he urged a judge to award SIPC, which is conducting a broad investigation of the assets of Madoff Securities, a power of attorney over Madoff’s UK unit.

SIPC is a government-backed corporation to cover losses when brokerages fail. US prosecutors probing Madoff urged US District Judge Louis Stanton in New York to hold the power in escrow and not to grant it to Picard. Stanton didn’t rule on the matter.

Madoff, 70, was jailed two weeks ago after he pleaded guilty to orchestrating a Ponzi scheme where he ripped off thousands of investors.

Madoff faces 150 years behind bars when he is sentenced in June.