A Luxembourg judge has frozen some assets held by UBS for Luxalpha, one of the principal European investment funds that gave money to US money manager Bernard Madoff, said a lawyer in the Grand Duchy on Monday.

Karine Vilret Huot, lawyer for an unnamed French investor, said the assets of an account held by the UBS subsidiary in Luxembourg on behalf of Luxalpha were frozen by a judge several days ago.

A hearing was held on Monday and the investorâ??s claim â?? believed to be in the order of â?¬1m â?? is being considered by the court. The investor claims to have sought to cash in his account at the $1.4bn Luxalpha fund in October or November, well before Mr Madoffâ??s arrest in December, but he sought the asset freeze after learning of the alleged fraud.

The Luxalpha asset freeze appears to be the first court action in Europe, but almost certainly will not be the last. Another private investor in a second UBS-run feeder fund, Luxembourg Investment Fund-US Equity Plus, is also considering legal action against the Swiss bank. 

People with knowledge of the situation claimed that the two Luxembourg funds were not actively marketed by the bank and were set up at the request of clients to send money to Mr Madoff.