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A Passport and $44 Million - Ruth Madoff, Where Are You?

By Joel Zand on July 29, 2009 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

With her passport in hand, and husband in the joint, one would think that Ruth Madoff is taking a leisurely vacation in the Carribean or French Riviera.

Wherever she is, the wife of convicted and imprisoned Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff probably already knows that Madoff bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard just sued her, on behalf of investors, "to recapture at least $44,822,355 in funds that were transferred" from Madoff's bankrupt company direclty to his wife, "or for her benefit"

$45 million? Under a court order, wasn't she allowed to keep just $2.5 million of the couple's assets in a deal with federal prosecutors?

Picard's lawsuit states that:

...while Madoff's crimes have left many investors impoverished and some charities decimated, Mrs. Madoff remains a person of substantial means.

According to the suit, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC transfered nearly $24 million to Ruth Madoff prior to the firm's December 2008 bankruptcy filing. An additional amount of more than $21 million was transferred to Ruth Madoff between two and six years prior to the Chapter 7 proceeding.

Under federal bankruptcy law, money that is transferred as part of a 'fraudulent conveyance' prior to bankruptcy can be recovered by those claiming to have been defrauded.

You can read Picard's lawsuit against seeking to get back more than $44 million for investors from Ruth Madoff here:

 

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