Investors who lost big bucks because of Bernie Madoff went to court Tuesday to try and get all their cash back.

Those who showed up at bankruptcy court wanted to get back not just what they lost, but insisted their net loss included what Madoff said they had earned.

Madoff had claimed his financial empire to be worth $65 billion. The court-appointed trustee said the loss figure was only $20 billion, and that so far, he’d recovered only 1.6 billion.

Trustee Irving Picard believes the payout to investors must be based not on what Madoff claimed they had, but only on what they paid in.

“The people who have already gotten over 100-cents on the dollar have gotten money on the backs of the people who haven’t gotten all their money back,” said Picard.

But there are investors who insist they had a “legitimate expectation” based on their last account statement Madoff gave them.

“All we have to go on is by our broker’s statement whether it’s Madoff, Lehman, anybody,” said Madoff investor Cynthia Friedman.

Said Picard’s attorney, David Sheehan: “At the end of the day, it boils down to, it depends on how much money you put in.”

So, are investors entitled to the appreciated value of their investments, or merely to their portion of what was recovered?

The judge said he would make his decision at a later date.

(Source: WCBSTV)