Ruth Madoff Can’t Spend $100 Without Telling Trustee

Ruth Madoff Can’t Spend $100 Without Telling Trustee - 8/3/2009

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HEADLINES \| SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS \| COURT FILINGS LINKS TO OTHER NEWS \| NEWS ARCHIVE	HEADLINES ARCHIVED SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS ARCHIVED

HEADLINE NEWS:

Ruth Madoff Can’t Spend $100 Without Telling Trustee
Erik Larson

Bloomberg. August 3, 2009
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EXCERPT: Bernard 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. Madoff, 71, pleaded guilty in March and was sentenced on June 29 to 150 years in prison for running a $65 billion Ponzi scheme, the biggest in U.S. history. Picard is suing Madoff’s biggest investors, including philanthropists and offshore hedge funds, and will repay investors with money he recovers. Picard, assigned to wind down New York-based Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, or BLMIS, claims Ruth Madoff, 68, had no reason to believe payments she received were legitimate, and that she lived a life of splendor at the expense of her husband’s victims. […] The complaint details 111 wire transfers from BLMIS to Ruth Madoff’s personal bank accounts or to companies that the financier’s wife of 49 years invested in. Some of the money was used to pay Ruth Madoff’s credit-card bill and to buy a yacht for her family’s use, Picard claims. Authorities previously seized homes and property belonging to the Madoffs as part of the criminal case. Prosecutors agreed to allocate $2.5 million to Ruth Madoff and said Picard was free to go after the sum.

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