Efforts to recover funds transferred out of the country ahead of the collapse of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme were revived Monday, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned decisions from the Manhattan district and bankruptcy courts.

The decision by the panel of Circuit Judges Dennis Jacobs, Rosemary Pooler and Richard Wesley will allow the trustee, Baker & Hostetler partner Irving Picard, to pursue claims against major investors that invested with Madoff through off-shore funds, including subsidiaries of HSBC, UBS and the billionaire Koch brothers to the tune of $4 billion, according to a spokeswoman for the trustee.

The appeal came after U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein of the Southern District of New York ruled that some 88 clawback cases were subject to extraterritoriality and international comity principles, and therefore blocked from pursuit by Picard.