NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — The trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff's investment company won court approval of a $14.7 million bill for four months' work by his law firm, overcoming challenges from victims.

The payment to trustee Irving Picard and his firm, Baker & Hostetler LLP, was approved yesterday by US Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in New York. Some victims argued Picard isn't paying Madoff clients fast enough and is wasting money that should go to them.

The amount covers Picard's work from December 15 to April 30. The trustee and the law firm argued the fees were justified by their recovery of $1.08 billion for victims as of June 30 and their filing of complex lawsuits against the con man's biggest investors seeking about $14 billion more in damages.

Picard was hired to unwind New York-based Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC after Madoff, 71, was arrested for running a $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Madoff pleaded guilty in March and was sentenced on June 29 to 150 years in prison.

The fees will be paid by the Securities Investor Protection Corp., the government-chartered agency that is overseeing the liquidation and hired Picard. Some victims argue Washington-based SIPC is low on cash and needs the money to make required payments of as much as $500,000 each to victims.

"The trustee has been an abysmal failure," Helen Chaitman, a lawyer and a Madoff victim who sued Picard over his calculation of claims, said in an objection filed this week. "This depletion of SIPC's funds is unjustifiable."

Chaitman also claimed that most of the money recovered by Picard so far was cash in Madoff's bank accounts and didn't require extensive effort to secure.

At least seven other law firms filed requests for fees and expenses totaling $1.32 million. The firms gave legal advice or assisted Picard's team in Madoff-related matters in Luxembourg, Ireland, the British Virgin Islands and the UK, according to court filings.

Picard has said that 20 percent of the firm's fee will be deferred until the Madoff brokerage has been liquidated. His law firm said it made a voluntary reduction of more than $111,000 by not charging for intra-office expenses including lodging, meals, airfare and other transportation.

Victims whose confirmed losses exceed $500,000 will get additional payments later, depending on how much money Picard accumulates for the estate. Many victims claim Picard is miscalculating their claims.

Picard yesterday changed his procedure for paying as much as $500,000 to victims, dropping a requirement that blocked payments to investors who disputed his calculation of their claims. Under the new plan, undisputed sums will be paid promptly, and the disputed portions will be dealt with later.