Court trustee sues Ruth Madoff for what she has left
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The trustee overseeing the remnants of Bernie Madoff‘s investment advisory business is suing the convicted swindler’s wife, Ruth, trying to claw back her remaining assets.
This may just be for show as much as anything, but the trustee, Irving Picard, is duty-bound to try to recover as much as he can for Madoff’s victims.
From Bloomberg News:
The trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff’s investment advisory business sued the imprisoned con man’s wife for $44.8 million, saying she was ‘massively enriched’ by her husband’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Trustee Irving Picard, assigned to wind down Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, or BLMIS, filed the lawsuit today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, claiming Ruth Madoff’s profit from the fraud over the past six years is recoverable under U.S. bankruptcy law. ‘For decades, Mrs. Madoff lived a life of splendor using the money of BLMIS’s customers,’ Picard said in a complaint. ‘The purpose of this action is to recover that money to the extent possible for the benefit of BLMIS and its defrauded customers.’
The government already has seized the Madoffs’ homes and other property. Ruth Madoff was left with $2.5 million under a deal reached with prosecutors, but Picard said the arrangement didn’t bar him from going after that sum.
‘Mrs. Madoff remains a person of substantial means,’ Picard said. ‘The inequity between Mrs. Madoff’s continuing financial advantages and the economic distress of Madoff’s customers compels the trustee to bring this action.’
From Bloomberg:
Ruth Madoff’s lawyer, Peter Chavkin, said that the complaint is ‘perplexing and totally unjustified’ and that it doesn’t accuse Ruth Madoff, 68, of being aware of her husband’s fraud or participating in it. ‘Ruth already forfeited to the United States Attorney’s Office almost all of the assets named in this complaint -- assets that the U.S. Attorney’s Office has publicly committed to distributing to the victims,’ said Chavkin.
-- Tom Petruno