Bernie Madoff's wife Ruth will pay her swindler husband's victims nearly $600,000 after judge approves the settlement with a court-appointed trustee who is liquidating the fraudster's assets
- U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein authorized the settlement on Tuesday
- Accord calls for Ruth to pay $250,000 in cash and give up $344,000 of trusts
- She also agreed to surrender remaining assets upon her death to Irving Picard
- He sued Ruth for $44.8 million but called this settlement 'fair and reasonable'
- Ruth, 78, was not charged over the Ponzi scheme and denied knowledge of it
- Bernard was jailed for 150 years for operating the world's largest Ponzi scheme
Bernie Madoff's wife Ruth will pay victims of her swindler husband $594,000 after a federal judge approved the settlement with a court-appointed trustee who's liquidating the fraudster's assets and raising money for those he deceived.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein in Manhattan authorized the settlement on Tuesday ending a decade-old lawsuit.
The accord calls for the former socialite, 78, who was never charged over her husband's Ponzi scheme and has denied knowledge of it, to pay $250,000 in cash and give up $344,000 of trusts for two grandchildren.
She also agreed to surrender her remaining assets upon her death to Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.
A federal judge has approved Ruth Madoff's $594,000 settlement with the court-appointed trustee who is liquidating her husband Bernard's firm and raising money for his victims. The couple are pictured here with their late son Mark in 2001
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein in Manhattan authorized the settlement on Tuesday. Bernard Madoff is pictured center in 2009 before he was sentenced to 150 years in prison
Ruth, who has been living a reclusive and far less glamorous lifestyle in the wake of her husband's arrest, is understood to have moved into a 989-square-foot townhouse in the 6,100-person town of Old Greenwich, Connecticut.
The disgraced Wall Street banker's wife had been sued by Picard for $44.8 million in 2009, but in a May 3 filing called the settlement a 'fair and reasonable compromise,' citing her limited assets and the litigation risks.
The trustee also said the settlement was not evidence that Ruth Madoff admitted to participating in or knowing about her husband's fraud, which was uncovered in December 2008.
Picard has estimated that Bernard Madoff's customers lost $17.5 billion.
The deal had been reached on May 3 but was approved Tuesday.
In June 2009, shortly before Bernard Madoff, 81, was sentenced to 150 years in prison, the Madoffs agreed with prosecutors to let federal marshals sell their assets, and allow Ruth Madoff to keep $2.5 million. Most of that is thought to have gone on legal fees.
She then disappeared from public life amid the fallout and neighbors previously said mainly keeps to herself, taking drives in her Toyota Prius and going for long walks around town.
The sale of their four homes and all their contents realized over almost $70million. Jewelry worth over $2.5million was also sold, while a pair of boxer shorts owned by the swindler were among hundreds of smaller items put up for sale.
Shunned by family and friends, and once described as the most hated woman in New York, Ruth deliberately avoided any controversy to avoid provoking the anger of her husband's many victims.
Many claimed she must have known about her husband's fraud and her silence in the weeks after his arrest added to the feeling that she was somehow complicit.
But she was never charged and maintained her innocence - while supporting her husband by raising his $10million bail money with his brother Peter.
The accord calls for Ruth Madoff, 78, who was not charged over her husband's Ponzi scheme and has denied knowledge of it, to pay $250,000 in cash and give up $344,000 of trusts for two grandchildren
Ruth, pictured in 2017, also agreed to surrender her remaining assets upon her death
Irving Picard had sued Ruth Madoff for $44.8 million in 2009, but in a May 3 filing called the settlement a 'fair and reasonable compromise,' citing her limited assets and the litigation risks
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Convicted fraudster Bernard, on the other hand, is said to enjoy his 'special celebrity' status behind bars.
He is currently serving a 150-year prison sentence for orchestrating the world's largest Ponzi scheme, which bilked investors of an estimated $65billion when principal and lost interest are counted.
The couple suffered double tragedy when the their son, Mark Madoff committed suicide on December 11, 2010. His body was found hanging from a ceiling beam while his son slept in the other room.
Bernie Madoff's other son, Andrew, died in 2014 after a battle with cancer.
Victims of Madoff's multi-billion-dollar fraud lost their savings and were ruined when the investment scheme collapsed in 2008.
The Madoff scheme was revealed during the financial crisis in 2008 when he was unable to satisfy growing client demands to withdraw their investments.
Such was the extent of the scheme it was turned into a movie, The Wizard of Lies, with Michelle Pfeiffer playing Ruth and Robert De Niro as Bernard.
A case of watches and jewelry belonging to US financier Madoff seized and sold in 2010
More than 400 pieces of seized personal property, jewelry, and antiques from Madoff and his wife, Ruth, were sold at an auction in 2010, the proceeds of which will be used to compensate the victims of Madoff's multi-billion dollar scam. Bull, a $7 million yacht owned by Ruth Madoff, is seen moored in Port of Gallice along Antibes harbor, in 2008
