Business

Madoff biotech investment pays off

For once, convicted Ponzi king Bernie Madoff has produced profits that aren’t too good to be true.

A $2.2 million investment that he made in a small biotech company years before his house of cards came crashing down in December 2008 more than doubled in value this week.

Stemline Therapeutics went public on Tuesday, selling 3.3 million shares at $10 a piece. The stock closed down 2 percent yesterday, at $10.75, valuing Madoff’s initial $2.2 million investment at $5.5 million on paper.

That’s good news for Madoff’s burned investors, who stand to benefit if Irving Picard — the court-appointed trustee tasked with clawing back money for victims — succeeds in grabbing those shares.

According to a lawsuit Picard filed against a Madoff family fund, the Stemline shares “rightfully belong to… customers.”

The matter is still winding its way through Manhattan bankruptcy court.

According to Stemline’s latest regulatory filing, Madoff Family LLC holds 515,203 shares. That represented 14.82 percent of the company before it went public. After the IPO, the fund held the same number of shares but controls 6.87 percent of the public company.

Madoff’s elder son, Andrew, is the “interim manager” of Madoff Family LLC, which cannot transfer the stock without bankruptcy court approval, Stemline said in the filing.

According to Picard, the beneficiaries of Madoff Family LLC include Bernie’s brother, Peter Madoff, sentenced in December to 10 years in prison for his role in the scheme.

Bernie’s younger son Mark, also a beneficiary, committed suicide in 2010, on the second anniversary of his father’s arrest. Bernie Madoff is currently serving 150 years in prison.