He told clients that he achieved the returns using a complex combination of derivatives, stock, currency and futures trading.

[7] The complaint alleged he "knew or should have known" he was deep in a Ponzi scheme when his family investments with Madoff averaged 40% and sometimes soared as high as 300%.

It also claimed Chais was a primary beneficiary of the scheme for at least 30 years, allowing his family to withdraw more than $1 billion from their accounts since 1995 - money that properly belonged to Madoff victims.

[10] On September 23, 2009, California Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a lawsuit against Chais seeking $25 million in penalties and restitution for victims.

[11] On November 19, 2016, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved a global settlement – made in cooperation with the California Attorney General - with the defendants in Picard v. the Estate of Stanley Chais, et al.

[6] Chais died on September 26, 2010, at age 84 in Manhattan, where he and his wife went for treatment of the myelodysplastic syndrome which eventually took his life.