CT Town Wants Court to Allow Claims for Madoff Losses

May 20, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Lawyers representing Fairfield, Connecticut, have asked the state's Appellate Court to reverse a lower court ruling that the town cannot make claims for losses due to financier Bernard Madoff's fraud.

The Associated Press reports that attorney Richard Robinson told the court that Walter M. Noel Jr. and Jeffrey H. Tucker were partners in an investment firm that conspired with Madoff, and as a result they should be included among financiers responsible for a $42 million loss in Fairfield’s pension fund.  

A Stamford Superior Court judge ruled last year that the harm claimed by the town was not directly due to the conduct of Noel and Tucker, according to the news report.  

An attorney speaking for Noel and Tucker also said there was no link between the two men and Fairfield.  

After suffering a $42-million loss in the Bernard Madoff ponzi scheme, town officials proposed a spending plan that included a nearly $1.6-million pension funds allotment. A collective bargaining agreement between the Town Hall Employees Union and the Town of Fairfield ratified this year will place future employees in a defined contribution plan instead of one of the town’s defined benefit pension plans (see CT Town Reaches Agreement on DC Plan).  

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