BUSINESS BRIEFING / COURTS

The trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff’s assets has sued the disgraced money manager’s wife, asking for nearly $45 million that he says was spent on “a life of splendor.”

The trustee, Irving H. Picard, spelled out his claims in a lawsuit against Ruth Madoff in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Ruth Madoff several weeks ago moved out of a $7-million Manhattan penthouse where she and her husband had lived during their 49-year marriage.

Her lawyer, Peter Chavkin, said in a statement that Picard’s action was “wrong as a matter of law and fairness.” Chavkin said the lawsuit was “particularly perplexing and totally unjustified” because she already forfeited to the federal prosecutor’s office nearly all of the assets described in the suit.