That's because in both those cases Lehman and also Madoff filed bankruptcy. The bankruptcy priority scheme took care of Madoff's 'victims' because they were general creditors.
In this case as you know, Brooks hasn't filed for bankruptcy, Point Blank did. In the Lehman and Madoff cases, the money/assets were tied to the creditors/victims under the same legal proceeding, ie a bankruptcy. Here, there are competing interests in Federal Bankruptcy Court, Federal Civil Court, Federal Criminal Court, and even different state courts spread across different jurisdictions. But the Criminal Court is in the driver's seat and any money that could possible fund a bankruptcy estate has to come from the criminal proceeding.
If a Bankruptcy Plan were put forth today, you would get a complete zero. Now you (or those of you who plan to wait) can sit around for a couple of years, maybe 3-4-5, who knows, until the appellate processes play out or until something happens, but in the end at that time it will take around 70ish million to the estate to see a dime, imo.
The IRS deal was part of a plea agreement, so that money is already accounted for.
I wouldn't doubt and would probably bet that you could sell out now, buy back in a year from now at a lower price, and then still hold it over a year before anything comes of this. Who knows. I thought Brooks would suck it up and apologize to the victims at sentencing and do a global settlement. As it turns out, he apologized to the judge and his family and was defiant to the victims, which cost him jail time. Go figure. Even the judge mentioned she was looking for a global settlement.
You have to take into consideration that Brooks apparently really does have mental issues and much was made of his ailments at sentencing, which is what got his sentenced reduced. The one that stuck out to me was bipolar disorder. Sane reasoning is hit or miss at this point.
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