Madoff sons contest claim from bankruptcy trustee

The two sons of Bernard Madoff, the fraudster jailed for running a $50bn Ponzi scheme, have claimed they were victims of their father's criminal activities as part of their efforts to dimiss a lawsuit brought to recover almost $200m from members of the Madoff family.

Mark and Andrew Madoff make the claim in papers filed this week to counter the suit brought by bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard. Madoff's brother, Peter, and his niece Shana, are also subject to Picard's claim, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Andrew and Mark say they ran the Madoff market-marking and proprietary trading business legitimately, and note it has already been sold by the trustee for $25m. In the papers they say they lost their business and went to the authorities when their father admitted he had been running a Ponzie scheme. Their lawyer said for rank among the "numerous victims" of their father.

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