Ruth Madoff must detail all purchases exceeding $100
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The trustee who is hunting for Bernard Madoff’s assets will get a monthly report on all $100-or-greater spending decisions by the convicted swindler’s wife, Ruth.
From Bloomberg News:
Madoff’s wife, Ruth, can’t spend more than $100 on herself without telling the trustee liquidating her husband’s investment-advisory business, a bankruptcy judge ruled. An order freezing Ruth Madoff’s assets and putting in place a monthly report on expenditures was signed July 31 by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in Manhattan. The order applies to a $2.5-million settlement the U.S. government will give Ruth Madoff as part of a deal in her husband’s criminal case. Trustee Irving Picard sued Ruth Madoff on July 29, seeking the return of $44.8 million allegedly transferred to her from Bernard Madoff’s firm over a six-year period. She agreed to report her expenses to the trustee monthly, and was approved to spend money on ‘reasonable’ legal fees, court records show.
Lawyers for Ruth Madoff, 68, have asserted that she already has surrendered all assets other than the $2.5 million the court awarded her. But by filing suit against her, Picard clearly is going in search of any possible hidden assets that could benefit Bernard Madoff’s victims.
Picard also has the right to try to claw back the $2.5 million, if that’s all he finds.
-- Tom Petruno