Irving Picard

Irving Hermann Picard (born June 26, 1941) is an American lawyer known for his recovery of funds from the Madoff investment scandal from investors, Bernie Madoff and his family, and their spouses and estates. Throughout the case, Picard's law firm, BakerHostetler, was paid approximately $1 billion.

Early life Picard was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, and is Jewish. His parents were Julius Picard (a doctor born in Lauterbourg, France) and Claire Dreyfuss (born in Kaiserslautern, Germany).

In August 1938, Julius and Claire Picard immigrated with their children from Mainz in Nazi Germany to the United States.

In the 1970s, he was variously Assistant General Counsel, Acting Chief Counsel, and Trial Attorney in the Division of Corporate Regulation of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He joined the law firm of BakerHostetler as a partner in 2008. He and his team have been overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff's firm in bankruptcy court, and have so far recovered over $13 billion — about 76 percent of approved claims — by suing those who profited from the scheme even if those individuals were unaware or uncharged.

Kathy Bazoian Phelps, a lawyer at Diamond McCarthy, said "That kind of recovery is extraordinary and atypical", as clawbacks in such schemes range from 5 percent to 30 percent, and many victims do not get anything. Picard has successfully pursued not only investors, but also spouses and estates of those who profited, such as the widow and estate of the deceased Stanley Chais, and the widow and estate of the deceased Jeffry Picower, with whom he reached a $7.2 billion settlement (the largest civil forfeiture payment in US history). His most notable case was Ruth Madoff, the wife of Bernard Madoff. "You don't take this job if you're thin-skinned", Picard once said.