BOSTON — A law designed to protect uninsured Americans who lose a television or other valuables to thieves could provide a glimmer of relief for thousands of investors burned by possibly one of Wall Street’s biggest frauds. Investors swindled by former Nasdaq Chairman Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50 billion fraud are exploring ways to recoup at least some of their money through so-called ‘theft loss’ deductions or other tax refunds. Those tax-code features could help shell-shocked investors recover potentially hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, lawyers and tax advisors say. ‘Just from watching the TV, I can see this is a theft,’ said Robert Willens, a New York tax adviser. ‘And theft losses are treated much more favorably than most other losses are treated for tax purposes.’ Theft-loss provisions were intended to help uninsured people whose property was stolen, damaged or destroyed in an accident or by an act of nature — from storms to earthquakes. But they also apply to fraud-related investments. Taxpayers can deduct theft losses if they exceed 10 percent of their adjusted gross income in the year the fraud was discovered, which is 2008. Given the massive scale of fraud, losses for […]