Madoff Victims’ Legal ‘Savior’ Accused of Conflicts in Lawsuit

A New York lawyer who was scammed by Bernard Madoff has for years held herself out as a courtroom “savior” to other victims, offering to help them keep investment profit or recover lost principal while ignoring her own conflicts of interest, two clients said in a proposed class-action suit.

Helen Davis Chaitman, who signed up hundreds of fellow victims as her clients since the con man’s arrest almost a decade ago, made a name for herself suing the trustee unwinding Madoff’s defunct securities firm in bankruptcy court. Her central claim is that the trustee, Irving Picard, is wrongfully settling claims ...