Madoff trustee adds to UBS claim, sues London firm

NEW YORK/ZURICH (Reuters) - The court-appointed trustee trying to recover money for investors defrauded by convicted swindler Bernard Madoff raised his claim against Swiss bank UBS to $2.5 billion.

UBS rejected the claim. "The U.S. trustee's allegations are completely unfounded and without merit," UBS spokeswoman Tatiana Togni said.

The trustee, New York lawyer Irving Picard, also filed lawsuits against multibillion-dollar U.S. money manger Tremont Group Holdings and Madoff Securities International Ltd, Madoff's London branch, as the statute of limitations deadline nears on December 15 for such claims.

Picard, trustee for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, sued UBS last month for more than $2 billion, accusing it of collaborating in Madoff's epic global fraud.

In the latest filing against the bank, he added $550 million to the total recovery sought in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

UBS spokeswoman Togni said, "UBS was not aware of any wrongdoing by Madoff. We will take all appropriate steps to demonstrate that the allegations are false and unfounded."

In Picard's initial claim, UBS was accused of sponsoring foreign feeder funds that sent client money to the once-respected money manager, lending the feeder funds "an aura of legitimacy" while shielding itself from liability through secret side agreements.

In recent weeks, Picard has also sued JPMorgan Chase & Co to recover $6.4 billion and HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, for $9 billion.

Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in March 2009 to running a decades-long investment fraud of up to $65 billion.

The complaint against Madoff's London branch seeks $80 million and names as defendants former MSIL directors: Madoff's brother Peter, Madoff's sons Mark and Andrew, Stephen Raven, Leon Flax, Christopher Dale, Philip Toop and Malcolm Stevenson. Raven was lead director.

Picard and Stephen Akers, a joint liquidator of MSIL in London, said in a statement that the suit was filed in the UK's High Court of Justice Commercial Court.

European banker Sonja Kohn was also identified as a defendant. Kohn has been separately charged by Picard in the New York court, as have the Madoff family members who had executive roles in the business.

"MSIL was part of Madoff's global shell game," the statement said. "Funds stolen in the Ponzi scheme traveled around the world, but ultimately ended up in the pockets of Madoff, his family and confederates like Sonja Kohn."

The suit alleges that MSIL was established to conceal lack of actual trading by Madoff's business. He ran a classic Ponzi scheme in which early investors were paid with the money of new clients.

Picard's action against Tremont accuses the firm of being the second-largest feeder-fund network for Madoff. Tremont was not immediately available for comment.

The latest case against UBS is Picard v. UBS AG et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 10-05311.

(Reporting by Grant McCool; additional reporting by Sakthi Prasad and Santosh Nadgir in Bangalore and Albert Schmieder in Zurich; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Jane Merriman and John Wallace)