Ruth Madoff Evicted: U.S. Marshals Order Her Out Of Upper East Side Apartment

NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. Marshals Service on Thursday took possession of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's $7 million Manhattan penthouse in a move that forced his wife to move elsewhere.

U.S. Marshal Joseph Guccione said the marshals arrived at the property at noon with a court order permitting them to take custody of the apartment and to make anyone living there move out.

Guccione said Madoff's wife Ruth had been advised in advance of the marshals' plans and was leaving the residence and surrendering all personal property.

"She will be leaving," he said. "Restitution for the victims is the government's top priority."

Typically, the marshals service changes all locks and secures a property when it seizes a location.

The 71-year-old Madoff was sentenced Monday to 150 years in prison. He pleaded guilty in March to charges that his investment advisory business was a multibillion-dollar pyramid scheme that wiped out thousands of investors and ruined charities.

Authorities said Madoff had carried out the fraud for at least two decades before confessing to his sons in December that his investment business was a fraud and that he had lost as much as $50 billion.

Last week, Ruth Madoff agreed to give up all of her possessions in return for a promise that federal prosecutors would not go after $2.5 million she can keep. The money, though, is not protected from civil legal actions that might be pursued by a court-appointed trustee liquidating Madoff's assets or by investor lawsuits.

Ruth Madoff broke her silence Monday when she said in a statement that her husband "stunned us all with his confession and is responsible for this terrible situation in which so many now find themselves."

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Comments

[SouthernWisdom]

Ruth: $2.5 million will buy you a lovely house down here in real America with plenty left to spare. And you'll have the benefit of being surrounded by decent and nice people.

[SeconLine]

Yearly interest on 2.5 mil would translate to about 100K.

I could live pretty comfortably on that. I even live in the same area (upper east side).

I hope she gives it to someone to invest for her!

[sloreader]

If she can find someone to guarantee her 12% she can make $300K a year!

[NevaforLeadership]

Your post gave my evening's laugh, sloreader.

[rowzeer]

Maybe she could invest it with her husband

[Mildmannered]

that is a good one

[NevaforLeadership]

In safe investments, at today's interest rates, quite a bit less than $100K. After tax income will amount to approximately $35,000 to $40,000.

If you live in the same area, you probably have more disposable income.

[patrickmcdougal]

actually with the right mix of bond investing you can pull over $100,000 a year for ten years, you need a new financial advisor, hopefully that isn't your career.

[Mildmannered]

I doubt if she knows how to live on 100k

[asta1968]

Dear Ruth,

This is from everyone:

AAAAAAAAAA­AAWWWWWWWW­WWWW!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!

[NevaforLeadership]

Not me.

[patrickmcdougal]

Ruth??? is that you???

[POETWAR11]

Meditating--Do your homework..­Ruth not only worked for her husband and maintained a working office with his firm, she is also the daughter of a financial guru who worked for her father...I­n addition, she is extremely well educated and by all accounts quite savvy business and otherwise.­.She would have to have spent her entire married life watching soap operas in order to have missed the signs...I appreciate your attempt at being fair-minded, but in this instance it is misplaced.­.A telltale sign is how quickly she threw her husband under the bus with her recent statement.­.'my husband stunned us all.......­.'. That statement sought to tell any other investigators that it was all Bernie....­very telling for a wife of many decades. She spent that money like the proverbial drunken sailor....­and she new something was amiss and so did the sons. Let's tell them all what we say to the poor when they are down and out.. GET A JOB! and no I am not envious of their former wealth....­.

[Tank77]

Don't cry for her Argentina. She won't be slumming it with her 2.5 mil. "Oh, we didn't know anything about what he was doing," so say the wife and kids. What a crock.

[davedave]

if they think they got it all, they have no inkling of why bernie pleaded guilty.

50 billion can be hidden in lots of little holes.....­.

d

[Quilter]

I don't get it. Why is she not in jail?

[moko2008]

Because, the authorities investigating the case have not, as of yet, found any evidence that she was involved. In the US, we don't put people in jail because we assume they're guilty, you have have enough reliable, admissible evidence to convince a judge and/or jury that the person is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Look, I also assume with a fair degree of "certainty" based on common sense that she got her hands dirty in the bernie's big ponzi puddle, but we don't actually have any proof of that other than guilt by association for right now.

[NevaforLeadership]

Thank you, mok02008 for one sensible and decent post.

[zanzig]

In the US we don't put people in jail because we assume they're guilty.

I know a couple of hundred detainees in Guantanamo would be heartened to hear that.

[wakupmagy]

I believe the position of the IRS is that the "innocent spouse" is still liable in cases of tax fraud because she (usually, "she") derived benefit from the income. I think in order for a spouse to be held not liable, she must show the funds were kept separate from community property.
Maybe there are some tax attorneys on the site who can clarify?
But if that's correct, the same principle could apply to Mrs. Madoff's situation.

[rowzeer]

wrong...yo­u don't put rich, white people in jail without admissible evidence..­..but it's done to the poor and minorities all the time. We do you think Gov. Ryan put on moratorium on executions in illinois?

[Travis bdboy]

Don't fret people....­she has a BILLION or TWO tucked away...don­'t feel sorry for her

[Mojo09]

Blonds have more fun, especially with $2.5M.

[Pupadup4oBama]

I HOPE they take that 2.5 million from her as well.

[Travis bdboy]

Will she spend the night in the Salvation Army Hostel?

[Pupadup4oBama]

nope...pro­bably the Waldorf Astoria...­or the Plaza Hotel, maybe Trump will let her stay at his hotel.

[LanceThruster]

White collar criminals have cover that others, say drug dealers, do not. So few recipients of the benefits of theft would get much sympathy. The fact that she would hang onto any of the plunder that Bernie (with help certainly) was able to amass says a lot about her. The same goes for her sons.

[johnpet]

I don't know why everyone assume she was in on it. I think they would have absolutely filed charges if she was involved in it. Married woman are successfully lied to every day - just take a lot at all the high profile men who have been busted cheating. Did Spitzer's wife know?

I feel sorry for Ruth. In her eyes her husband simply ran a wildly successful brokerage. She had no reason to question why they were so rich. That 2.5 mill she has will vaporize quickly and she'll be destitute.

[SoozeNYC]

"That 2.5 mill she has will vaporize quickly and she'll be destitute.­"

Well, at least she won't be the loneliest woman in NYC anymore...

[overcat]

She had an office at his business.

[maudefrickert]

BINGO!

[NevaforLeadership]

So?

Having an office at his business doesn't prove that she was in any way involved. Also, was her office in his legitimate brokerage business? Or was it in his illegitimate fund management business?

I have been in business for many years. I have known many people hanging out in offices of other businesses without having anything to do with those other businesses. Believe it or not, I have even known assistants who have absolutely no idea about what their bosses do. Sad but true. They sit right outside their bosses offices. They actually work for them!

From the interviews I have seen, it sounds as if Bernie Madoff's assistant was pretty much in the dark as to what he actually did from day to day.

[mairs]

I think it just as illogical to assume she was not in on it. We don't really know, do we.

[ForeDivot]

Funny, this Democrat steals $50B from Americans and they throw him in jail. Dems in Congress steal Trillions of our tax dollars as payola for helping win an election and they call it economic recovery! Maybe the Madoffs just need better press people on their payroll. Of course all three anchors are already employed by the White House

[brooklyncitizen]

LOL
you're really reaching aren't you?
still believe in the tooth fairy I assume.

[Pupadup4oBama]

What about the repubs that stole trillions from us to pay for an illegal war? Oh, that's right you probably think Saddam had something to do with 9/11.

[WRPrintz]

How do you get your shirt on in the morning, with your hand stuck in that straight armed salute? I am sure Ceaser Limbaugh will be proud of you.

[maudefrickert]

Have you been smoking "divots" again or what?

[HazerX]

And what about the Trillion Bush (R) threw at Iraq?

Or is that Bill Clinton's fault too? lol

[NevaforLeadership]

Bill Clinton was the person who initiated the greatest thrust towards deregulation.

(No pun intended.)

[doawkins]

Since she is a liberal, I believe she would be happy this summer at her summer cottage in Cape Cod.
More fresh air.

[SoozeNYC]

"Since she is a liberal...­"

How in the world did you come to THAT assumption?

[Pupadup4oBama]

well, aren't you just brilliant to think of something like that.

[livesimply]

Why would she even have bargaining power? She should have nothing of her husbands ill-gotten gains. NOTHING. I'm sure Bloomingdales would hire her as long as she didn't reveal her identity.

[NevaforLeadership]

She was allowed to keep the $2.5 million, because it had no trail to or from Bernie Madoff's scheme.

The investigators and prosecutors have publicly stated that there is no evidence that she knew anything about Bernie Madoff's activities or that she was involved in any way.

[rowzeer]

If I k*ill someone but leave no evidence that doesn't mean I'm innocent.