new york (Bloomberg) — Irving Picard, the liquidator of the remains of Bernard Madoff's defunct investment firm, won court approval to collect $22 million in fees for five months of work by him and his law firm.

The fees, which cover work by Picard and the law firm Baker & Hostetler LLP from May through September, were approved today by US Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in New York. Lifland said he wasn't convinced by victims' claims that Picard is wasting money on the case with unnecessary forensic accounting.

"Some of the objections, while they cosmetically look somewhat appealing, are bordering on the frivolous," Lifland said. "There's a hunt for assets and in a case like this the hunt isn't easily achieved."

Picard in August won his first request for $14.7 million in fees for work from shortly after Madoff's December 11 arrest through April. The trustee has recovered about $1.4 billion for victims and sued 14 of Madoff's biggest investors and beneficiaries for the return of about $15 billion in phony profit from the fraud.

Madoff, 71, pleaded guilty in March and is serving a 150- year sentence.