The widow of a businessman who had been the single-largest beneficiary of Bernard Madoff's colossal Ponzi scheme has agreed to return $7.2bn (£4.5bn).
Barbara Picower said Madoff's fraud was "deplorable" and promised to return money accrued over 35 years of investing with Madoff.
The trustee recovering Madoff's bogus profits filed court paper's on Friday formalising the settlement.
Florida businessman Jeffry Picower drowned after a heart attack in 2009.
US Attorney Preet Bharara called the settlement a "game changer" for Madoff's victims, many of whom lost their life savings.
The $7bn amounts to about one-third of the money investors' lost in the scandal. BBC News
