NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors and a court-appointed trustee ramped up efforts to recoup money from friends of Bernard Madoff believed to have profited from his fraud, reaching one forfeiture deal of $625 million and suing the owner of the New York Mets baseball club.

Bernard Madoff walks back to his apartment in New York in this December 17, 2008 file photo. Madoff's long-time deputy, Frank DiPascali, on August 11, 2009 pleaded guilty to financial crimes including helping others carry out Wall Street's biggest investment fraud, but shed little more light in court on the decades-long swindle. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/Files

Prosecutors and trustee Irving Picard said the forfeiture on Tuesday from accounts at JPMorgan Chase & Co were traceable to Carl Shapiro, a clothing entrepreneur who had invested with Madoff since 1961. They said the agreement was made “to resolve any potential civil claims by the government against Shapiro and his family.”

It did not release any party from criminal liability, the office of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney said in a statement.

Shapiro, 97, and related account holders invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the Madoff firm and withdrew even more, according to court documents.

The money will be distributed to victims of the decades-long multibillion dollar fraud that shook confidence in securities regulators when it was revealed two years ago on December 11, 2008 and Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) collapsed.

“The settlement will allow substantial funds to be distributed to those hurt most by Madoff’s fraud,” the Shapiro family said in a statement through their lawyers. “The Shapiros have worked closely with the authorities on this matter.”

Picard said Tuesday’s settlement included $38 million he had demanded from money manager Robert Jaffe, who recruited clients for Madoff via Cohmad Securities Corporation. It includes fees he was paid and withdrawals since the 1980s from his BLMIS accounts -- both fictitious profits and principal.

Madoff, 72, is serving a 150-year prison sentence after admitting to orchestrating a worldwide fraud of about $65 billion.

So far, Picard and his team of lawyers have recovered about $2.6 billion, including Tuesday’s agreement and a $500 million settlement on Monday with private Swiss bank Union Bancaire Privee and a related fund, M-Invest Limited, incorporated in the Cayman Islands.

Separately on Tuesday, the trustee sued Fred Wilpon, owner of the Mets Major League Baseball team, his firm Sterling Equities and other defendants. The trustee said he is in talks with Sterling to resolve the claims. The specifics of the claims were filed under seal and not made public.

Sterling said in a statement that, regardless of the outcome of the litigation, the Mets have “necessary financial and operational resources to compete.”

Madoff was known to be a lifelong Mets fan. The trustee contends the Mets made about $48 million in dealings with Madoff, court documents filed in October 2009 showed.

Picard has been targeting investors he says withdrew more from BLMIS than they deposited, a position that has angered many individual former Madoff customers, who have lodged appeals with the courts.

The trustee has called such profits “fictitious” and argues they should be returned for the benefit of other Madoff clients who lost money.

Picard also has brought big cases against HSBC Holdings Plc for $9 billion, Swiss bank UBS AG for $2 billion and JPMorgan Chase for $6.5 billion since late November.

The banks have indicated they will fight Picard’s charges they ignored warning signs of the fraud. Madoff’s swindle was a classic Ponzi scheme in which early investors were paid with the money of new clients.

Picard must file lawsuits to recover money by the two-year anniversary of Madoff’s arrest and his firm’s collapse.

In other lawsuits filed on Tuesday, Picard sued investment firm Legacy Capital, BNP Paribas Securities Corp and others.