On 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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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-03-2009 @ 6:18PM
Mary Ann said...
Of course Ruth Madoff knew exactly what was going on, in fact she probably helped. I think leaving her with 2.5 mllion is way too generous. The fact that she is cooperating is a good indication that she is guilty and knows that the time has come to pay for her crimes. I wonder how many possessions and how much money she had time to hide before the govt took over. Shame on you, Ruth - you will get paid back somehow. She and her sons need to all be in jail for a long, long time.
7-02-2009 @ 11:29PM
Rgoldgirl said...
Nobody knows if Ruth knew. When he told his sons what he had done they went to the law. This guy stole 50 billion dollars maybe and the people with the money did not even know it. You underestimate this guy - he is the epitome of everything that is wrong with this country's economics. He took it all to be looked at as a success and now he faces count time , a menial job at 8 bucks a month, and the rest of his life in a cell and then a hospital ward. He will die there ... I bet he would do it different now. As my momma used to say when she caught me doing something stupid and I told her I was sorry, " You're not sorry you did it, your sorry I caught you." Smart woman - Bernie should have been so lucky to have a mother like that.
7-03-2009 @ 2:05AM
Jerry said...
How could any wife not know what a husband is doing when billions of dollars are rolling?. She should not be allowed 2.5 cents let alone 2.5 million. I find it very sad that so many were cheated but so many Madoff family members are not in jail and are allowed to live the rich life. Next comes Osama Obama who is another Madoff of sorts. He just takes what he wants and gives taxpayer money to anyone he desires to while bailing out banks, auto manufacturers, stimulus checks of $250 to we little people, etc. ONE THING OBAMA BEST REMEMBER. WE LITTLE PEOPLE VOTE AND WE ALL WILL VOTE AGAIN. ###I did not and would never vote for OBAMA, not in a million years###
7-03-2009 @ 2:26AM
paul s said...
Mrs. Madoff has not been charged with anything, yet people like the one above have already convicted her. It must have been insane, if you had a brain, living during the Salem Witch trials in this country. No wonder people like McCarthy and Mr. Madoff thrive and prosper in America. We provide fertile ground for imbeciles and a calm wind for them to blow in.
7-03-2009 @ 8:44AM
Paolo said...
I think there's a huge difference between "justice" and "revenge". This family will pay a lot for what Bernie has done. Who cares if she knew or not, really?
7-03-2009 @ 4:23PM
page114 said...
She did his books for cripes sake.She probably gave some vital info to help send the old man to jail.Stupid is as stupid does as people entrusted them with hard earned dollars.She should get crap.Show me any middle class person that goes to jail whose wife is awarded anything never the less 2.5 million dollars of somebody elses money.This is criminal itself of our judicial system.Who goes to jail for that?