Trustee seeks court permission to return another $322 million to Madoff victims

Investors burned by Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme could be getting back more of their money.

The trustee in charge of recovering funds for Madoff victims is asking a New York bankruptcy court for permission to distribute another $322 million.

Trustee Irving Picard says that the latest payment would bring the total distributed so far to Madoff investors to $7.2 billion.

Madoff's multi-decade fraud lost about $20 billion from thousands of investors. His firm told clients they were gaining steady returns when in fact Madoff was using money from new investors to distribute funds to existing clients while financing a lavish lifestyle for him.

Picard was appointed after Madoff's scheme collapsed in 2008 and has recovered about $10.5 billion so far.