After nearly 12 years, the SIPA Trustee has officially terminated the Hardship Program.

At the commencement of claims administration, the Trustee established the Hardship Program to accelerate the determination of claims and the receipt of SIPC protection up to $500,000 to BLMIS customers who were suffering hardship.

During the first phase of the Hardship Program, the SIPA Trustee received many hardship applications from former BLMIS customers who could have become the subject of avoidance action lawsuits prior to December 11, 2010. In the exercise of his discretion, the SIPA Trustee decided to forego potential avoidance actions against those BLMIS customers who submitted hardship applications and were deemed to be suffering hardship. 

The SIPA Trustee expanded the Hardship Program into a second phase as he instituted avoidance actions. The SIPA Trustee had stated that while the law requires the pursuit of avoidance actions to recover customer property, he would not pursue actions against BLMIS accountholders suffering proven hardship. The SIPA Trustee announced in November 2010 that the Hardship Program would focus on avoidance action defendants and requested that accountholders come forward to share information regarding their hardships. Throughout the program, the SIPA Trustee worked with a substantial number of hardship applicants who were subject to avoidance actions to confirm their hardship status and forego the pursuit of an avoidance action.