The trustee overseeing the recovery of funds for victims of Bernard L. Madoff’s epic Ponzi scheme said Wednesday $231 million has been earmarked for claims with another $2.7 billion set aside for the future.

The numbers were released one day ahead of a July 2 deadline for filing claims in the case.

Madoff, 71, a former head of the Nasdaq stock market who plead guilty in March to likely the largest investment fraud in history, was sentenced to 150 years in jail earlier this week.

The $231 million covers the claims of 543 former Madoff clients, according to a statement released by the trustee, Irving Picard. Thousands more claims are still to be determined.

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Picard and Stephen Harbeck, president of the Securities and Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC), which is overseeing the recovery effort, noted that the claims process has picked up speed in recent months – on May 14 a total of $61.4 million had been committed to 125 victims.

Picard and SIPC had been criticized by victims for processing claims too slowly and for not responding in a timely fashion to former Madoff clients who were wiped out when Madoff was arrested in December and his long-running scheme collapsed.

SIPC announced last month a hardship program aimed at helping victims in need of immediate financial help.

But with Madoff in jail, presumably for the rest of his life, many victims are turning their frustration toward Picard and SIPC.

Several law suits have been filed contesting the method by which Picard is determining claims, and many more are certain to follow.

Victims want Picard to process their claims using the last statement issued by Madoff, but Picard has said he will determine so-called “net equity” by using the amount of money investors deposited into their Madoff accounts minus how much they took out.

Some victims feel Picard’s system favors SIPC, which was formed in the 1970s to assist defrauded investors and is funded by the brokerage industry.

Meanwhile, media reports have speculated that at least 10 more people will be charged in the Madoff case, but that Ruth Madoff, Bernard’s wife of 50 years, will not be one of them. Anonymous sources told the Associated Press that 10 unspecified Madoff associates will be indicted soon, while the New York Post said investigators have concluded that Ruth Madoff was not involved in her husband’s scheme.

Ruth Madoff agreed last week to forfeit much of her property and assets, including her $7 million New York City apartment. The deal left her with $2.5 million to essentially fend for her herself while her husband serves his prison term.

She broke her silence Monday shortly after her husband was sentenced, saying she too felt “betrayed” by her husband’s actions.