NEW YORK _ Victims of Bernie Madoff will receive $504.2 million, the government announced Thursday, bringing the total reimbursements from a Department of Justice fund to $1.3 billion.
The money will be sent to more than 21,000 victims across the world.
"We cannot undo the damage that Bernie Madoff has done, but today's distribution will provide significant relief to many of the victims of one of the worst frauds of all time," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said.
Last year, the government repaid $772 million to more than 24,000 victims of the largest Ponzi scheme in history.
The government hopes to return $4 billion obtained from Madoff, his family and investors who cashed out before the scam was revealed. The money also came through JP Morgan, which served as Madoff's bank. In 2009, Madoff, 79, was sentenced to 150 years in prison and ordered to forfeit the symbolic sum of $170 billion.
A separate effort by trustee Irving Picard has repaid more than $11 billion to Madoff's victims.
