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Federal authorities take possession of Madoff's home

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Bernie Madoff Ponzi SchemeOn Monday, convicted con man Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in jail, and today federal authorities took possession of his $7 million Manhattan penthouse, forcing his wife to leave and look for somewhere else to live.

Ruth Madoff was told ahead of time that she would be forced to vacate her lush Manhattan penthouse, and reportedly she did leave the property this afternoon around 1 PM EST. The penthouse, on East 64th Street will be sold, with the proceeds being used to help reimburse the victims of the nations largest ever Ponzi scheme.

There is no information on where Ruth Madoff will be moving, but it will probably be a nicer place than where you and I currently live. A lot of the victims felt that Ruth should have been stripped of all her money, but the courts decided to allow her to keep $2.5 million, which should help her transition into her new life pretty nicely. She had been asking for as much as $80 million to be left in her name.

While Madoff was on trial for his multi-decade con, Ruth Madoff was notable absent from the hearings, stating that she could not look the victims in the eye, as many of them were close family friends. All in all, it is estimated that the victims of the Ponzi scheme lost around $13 billion.

Earlier this week, we finally heard from Ruth, who issued a statement saying that her husband had "stunned us all with his confession and is responsible for this terrible situation in which so many now find themselves." Whether or not she actually knew what was going on for all those years will probably never be answered. Madoff has insisted that his family was unaware of the scam that he was running.

For the victims, the eventual sale of the $7 million property and all the possessions inside will not go very far in recovering what has been lost, but it is still an important day. A lot of lives have been ruined, and people want to see justice. While they will probably never see all of their money again, it has to bring a little joy to the victims to see the Madoff family feeling some of the pain that have had to deal with themselves.

What are your thoughts on Ruth Madoff? Do you think that she was aware of her husband's actions, or do you believe that she was truly in the dark for all those years? Should she have been allowed to keep $2.5 million for herself, or should all her money have been turned over to help reimburse the victims of her husband's Ponzi scheme?

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Last updated: November 20, 2009: 07:09 PM

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