Unicredit wins the case with Bernard Madoff, the former financier known to the news all over the world for having been the architect of a 65 billion mega-scam, one of the biggest in history.
The bankruptcy trustee of the Madoff crash, Irving Picard, had filed a lawsuit against the Italian banking group for alleged responsibilities in the American fraud, but the District Court of New York has rejected the accusations: there is no involvement of Unicredit and its CEO at the time, Alessandro Profumo, in aiding crimes committed by Madoff. In particular, contrary to what was claimed by the indictment, Unicredit did not participate, through its subsidiary Bank Austria, in ferrying over 9 billion dollars to the fictitious companies of the New York financier. Operation for which the crime of criminal association would have been configured.
The ruling comes as a severe blow to Picard, who was seeking through this legal action to recover from the Piazza Cordusio group an amount of around 20 billion dollars in compensation for damages. Unicredit was only one of 60 subjects, including banks and administrators, to be accused by the liquidator of the Madoff group.
