By Linda Sandler – Oct 10, 2011 8:30 PM GMT+0100
Shell Pension Fund, which runs pension plans for Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) companies, joined an appeal of a court ruling in the Bernard Madoff case that denied customer status to so-called feeder fund investors.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland backed the liquidator of the con mans firm in June, saying investors in feeders cant file claims for payment with the estate because they didnt have accounts with the Madoff firm in their own names. More than 50 companies, pension funds and individuals — from National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) SAK and Aozora Bank Ltd. (8304) to Upstate New York Bakery Drivers & Industry Pension Fund — appealed the ruling, asking a district judge to decide whether Lifland erred in defining what a customer was.