While the story of Bernie Madoff came to an end on Monday with a sentence of 150 years in prison, the tale of his victims is far from over.

Only 440 out of the 8,000 claims against the disgraced financier have been paid out since Madoff admitted to running a Ponzi scheme in December, and of the $65 billion that Madoff at one point allegedly had under management, only $1.23 billion has been recovered by Madoff Trustee Irving Picard’s organization.

The process of recovering the rest of the assets has been a slow and arduous task, and since his arrest, Madoff has not “provided any meaningful cooperation or assistance to the trustee,” Picard counsel Baker Hostetler said during Monday's hearings.

Now with Madoff sentenced to prison for ultimately the rest of his life, there seems to be little incentive for Madoff to help authorities.

See our Bernie Madoff page for the latest news and videos on the schemist.

Lawyers representing Madoff victims have said recovering assets will take many months or years – too long for many victims. Many have been wiped clean of savings and facing foreclosures and no retirement.

“The process is taking far too long,” said Jerry Reisman, a partner with the firm Reisman, Peirez & Reisman, who represents Madoff victims on FOX Business Monday. “Picard is understaffed--he just doesn’t have enough people working on this to get this done quickly.”

Some Madoff victims have found some financial recovery in the $500,000 in insurance provided through the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.

But the SIPC fund only covers victims who directly invested with Madoff, not the investors who went through what’s known as “feeder funds” with such fund managers as J. Ezra Merkin, which was a common way to invest with Madoff. 

Madoff victims will have until Thursday to file a claim with SIPC. Those not eligible with SIPC will most likely have to fight for their piece in a very small pie through the court system, which could take years.

Many victims are outraged not just at the admitted thief , but at the system that failed to protect them.

“There is responsibility here, Bernie Madoff was a thief, but the IRS and the SCC failed to do their job and protect us as they needed to do and we’re going to try to make sure that the American people know about that,” said Michael De Vita, one of Madoff’s victims, outside of the courthouse in New York just before Madoff’s sentencing hearing.

“What happened to us can absolutely happen to you. If you think you’re secure in your investments and the American security system, think again. If you think that SIPC is protecting you, they’re not; they’re protecting the brokerage firms. If you think that this can’t happen, think again.”

Investors who are be eligible for SIPC, such as former Fort Lee, N.J. Mayor Burt Ross, who invested $5 million with Madoff, the maximum $500,000 payout only represents a small portion of what was lost.

“Not only have I lost the inheritance of my father … I have lost our retirement accounts and funds in trust for our children,” Ross said in a statement at Madoff’s sentencing. “The fact is, though, we are among the fortunate ones because we still have a roof over our heads and food on our table.”

Although the maximum sentence won’t bring back victims’ life savings-- many victims take comfort knowing Madoff will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

“I think it was certainly a justified sentence,” said victim Judith Welling after the hearing, who together with her husband, lost $2.5 million to Madoff.

“I think the judge certainly read all the letters we wrote, which were in the hundreds, he gave it a lot of thought and he’s trying to send a message to the world that this sort of behavior will not be tolerated.”

Ross agreed and said he was “relieved” by the judge’s sentence.

“I think it was extremely important that all of us know that he will never get out of jail while we’re alive, so we won’t have to experience that,” Ross told reporters as he left the courthouse.