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."

Get HuffPost Business On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[jamesh1954]

Oh no!!! Where oh where will she go with only $2.5 million??? Won't someone think of the rich!?!?!?!

[MNKen]

Michelle Bachman does. Remember she whined about this country is running out of rich people.

[helonias]

Well she won't be going to the kingdom of heaven.

Thats for sure

[pfc1369]

Haven't you heard? The Congressional Fellowship (members include Ensign, Sanford, and many other) changed the rules.

Turns out The Lord is just like Ronald Reagan, He prefers to hang out with the very rich any day.

[nippyfan]

The honeymoon is over. Get out!

[2SucceedOnceMore]

The SEC and all The Feds Men gave her and Bernie enough time to stuff a few Billion Dollars into her mattress - I'm sure they are both singing - Don't Cry for me Argentina. . .suckers!

Not sure why Obama wants to create another Consumer Protection Agency for - when the dozen or more that we currently have - can't keep our food supply safe, can't stop the Madoffs from fleecing Americans, can't get justice for the Americans and Iraqis for Bush, Cheney et al War Crimes Against All of Humanity.

[totaldisbelief]

you're right..the­re's plenty of protection if it's applied correctly.­..problem is they are co-opted and inept.

[JFaye]

This is a tragically sad story all around, particularly for older victims who because of misplaced trust must now endure financial hardship and emotional distress in the autumn/winter of their lives.

[robinhood1]

At least she still has her Social Security and Medicare benefits and whatever unknown assets she managed to squirrel away in some overseas bank account.

[themainpoint]

Robinhood, in reply to your other comment, "Okay, so who is on the take at the SEC," I say, that is a really good question.

I saw your comment and still had it up in another window, but when I opened another window, poof, it had vanished!

Huffpo must be having some trouble.

[themainpoint]

Sorry. Found the comment. It was another commenter. My mistake!

[themeeg]

Hey Ruthie,

Check Craigslist. Maybe you'll be able to find a roommate there!

[SnapShots]

Boo hoo.

I'm less interested in what she's leaving. I'm more intersted in where she's going.

People like this usually have friends who 'take care' of them.

[texhall00]

These past few days I woman in my county was being evicted. No job, no money, poor health. The marshall's came to throw this poor woman out. She said give me a minute, went to the back took out a gun and kill herself. This is a true and sad story. At least Mrs. Madoff will have a few million to get started.

[TeeLolly]

Lots of ordinary Americans are getting evicted either as the result of foreclosure or nonpayment of rent every day. Some are disabled, some have done everything right and tried everything they can to keep their homes, but while taxpayer funds continue to find their way into the pockets of millionaire executives partly responsible for tanking the economy who don't need the money to maintain lavish lifestyles, no taxpayer dollars seem to find their way to help these people ...

[jimbeaux1961]

How about a cardboard box in Central Park?

[arusticat]

Yeah, I was going to suggest the box the refrigerator came in.

There is nothing these people have that wasn't acquired through fraud - or should not be "attachable" because of the fraud that was perpetrated by them.

Even if Ms. Madoff can prove that this money was willed to her by her great uncle Henry, it should be seized and used to compensate the victims.

[timetorevolt]

The box her 47,000 dollar fur coat is bigger and probably more luxurious.­..much better

[OkieIntellectual]

Don't worry, she'll probably lose it to civil suits.

[Steve T]

I think emotions are running high understandably so but we really don't know if she knew anything about the scam or not. I work in finance and although my wife knows what I do in broad terms she does not know my day to day activities nor does she know intricate details of what I do and that's the case for most people, especially if spouses don't share the same career. Think about it, Madoff was investigated several times by the SEC and they could not put the finger on what was going on, so how could she? As far as she was concerned her husband was a very successful man, after all he was at some point chairman of NASDAQ!. So, given that I don't know how much she knows, if anything, and given that she should be presumed innocent until proven guilty, I do feel sorry for her. Having said that, $2.5mm is enough to have an OK retirement, if not in NYC (as someone already mentioned, that is a choice) then in some other city in the US where living expenses are much lower.
For the people that lost ALL of their money, I feel bad for them although I cannot believe they would put all their eggs in one basket (most of these people, if not all, had some serious money and I assume were somewhat educated, sophisticated investors).
I'm happy to see Bernie Madoff burn in hell however.

[TheHandyman]

Yes, it is easy to tell you work in Finance. You think 2.5 million is an okay retirement fund. And of course it is all the vivims fault that they gave Bernie all their money because they trusted him. And you naturally assume that because some of them had serious money that they must also be sophisticated, and educated investors. And you probably also think that you are entitled to every dime you can suck out of the people who take your advice to buy something that doesn't exist. What you probably do is work in an area that is really nothing more than a legalized ponzi scheme. And the people who work in finance usually think that the rest of the world are sheep to be fleeced so they can live as lavishly as possible as a reward for their "hard" work!

How do you like those generalizations. buckoo?

[Steve T]

No, I don't think it is the victims fault, that's not what I said. I do think it is tragic that they put all their money and trust in one guy.
I assumed they had some money, yes, mainly because I read that he "hand picked" his clients and it was hard to "get in". I assumed, and perhaps very wrongly, that having little money would not attract an invitation to invest in one of his funds. Again, this is based on what I have read in the news.
My points above, if you care to read it again, are that she should be presumed innocent based on the fact that not many people know the intricate details of their spouses' job and presumption of innocence is a tenet in our legal system and second, $2.5mm is OK in NYC, if you live here, and many people can attest to it, retirement is hard with that. In other cities in the US that would go a long way however.
By the way, it would be great to have a civil discussion instead of you making accusations about what I do or think beyond what I wrote.

[OkieIntellectual]

Wow, did you have an unfortuante experience with a financial advisor or something?

[Cuyahoga]

It has been said since last Nov/Dec that Ruth was closely involved in the bookkeepin­g/accounti­ng side for many years, working side by side with her husband. Oh she knew. She knew. Steve you are phenomenally naive.

[Steve T]

Cuyahoga, if that's the case (I haven't read that) then I stand corrected and she deserves the same fate as her husband.
Can you post some of the links for those articles? the ones I have read (even here) don't suggest she was involved so directly.

[NevaforLeadership]

Thank you, Steve. One more sensible post.

I agree with all your points: Wives not knowing what their husbands do; the SEC's failure to figure out what was going on; the presumption of innocence until proven guilty; just an OK living on $2.5 million; the responsibility the victims must accept for their own role in the mess; and last but not least, Bernie Madoff burning in hell behind bars.

Thanks again. This thread needs comments such as yours.

[rowzeer]

If the wife did not work in the office, directly with the books, then I would say she may not of known. But she did, so it is impossible to believe she knew nothing about what was going on.

[skidoodk]

I like to see ALL the people who took money out of the fund put it back . They are just as guilty. Does any one think they really believed Madof was earing 10% yr in and out dispite the down markets.

So the folks who cashed in took later fools money and on and on, and there are a couple very high profile people who cashed in 100's of million. I dont care if you cashed out 1000.00 it was someone elses money

[JulezSD]

So your saying the people who lost didn't know it was to good to be true? I think you had alot of people who played a game with their money when the music stopped they were left stand without a chair.

[DeepsyRascal]

White collar crime pays. Lie to the end and you'll be fine.

[dukesman]

If she was a Black woman who is a known accomplice to a crime, they would put her under the jail. If you are white you are right

[lunchtimereader]

I agree with that. If u r a rich white socialite, u have connections everywhere and you have a better chance. If u r a person of color and poor, u can pretty much forget about it.

No different from missing children cases. If u have blond hair/blue eyes, there's a good chance the news will talk about the missing child. If u r of color living in poverty, if your child is missing, there is a reduced (very reduced) chance the press will pay attention.

[iRock]

Amen.

This is a great example of white privilege.

[TeeLolly]

Even after acknowledging the disproportionate amount of media attention given to missing blonde-haired, blue-eyed white girls, CNN for one continues to devote overwhelming amounts of time to missing blonde-haired, blue-eyed white girls, and almost no time at all to missing children of color.

[dappleganger]

Unless you're Martha Stewart, too--they put her under for much less that those idiots do every day.

[NevaforLeadership]

But she is not a known accomplice to the crime.

[dessertsfirst]

I wonde3r just how much of Ruthie's "things", and money she was able to hide elsewhere, since she was given advance notice of the eviction. I doubt very sincerely she gives up much of anything..­.

[Wiseronenow]

My prediction and because she took out $10 Million in CASH the day before Bernie was arrested and he had lot's of time to move money around too before he fessed up, that she will move to someplace in Europe and very soon. Bet on it.

[dessertsfirst]

Right on, Wiser

[jerryfromcalifornia]

It would be a very foolish for her to hid anything, the rath of the feds would be all over her. I'm sure her lawers advised her what would happen if she lied under oath.
jerrybelairca

[lowrentdenizen]

I'm sure they were able to cook up some kind of plan like that.