tagged w/ ruth madoff
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Latest News Updates Bernie Madoff's evil twin Ms Sonja Kohn is hit with $19.6B claim tied to scam. A wig-wearing Mr Austrian banker was outed yesterday as Ponzi schemer Mr Bernie Madoff's "criminal soul mate."Latest News Updates Bernie Madoff's evil twin Ms Sonja Kohn is hit with $19.6B... more
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Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff must forfeit $170 billion, a federal judge ordered Friday.
U.S. District Judge Denny Chin entered a preliminary order of forfeiture, and Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin released a copy of the order Friday night. Madoff was ordered to give up his interests in all property, including real estate, investments, cars and boats.
According to earlier court documents, prosecutors reserved the right to pursue more than $170 billion in criminal forfeiture. That represents the total amount of money that could be connected to the fraud, not the amount stolen or lost.
The government also settled claims against Madoff's wife, according to Friday's order. Under the arrangement, the government obtained Ruth Madoff's interest in all property, including more than $80 million of property to which she had claimed was hers, prosecutors said.
The order makes it clear, though, that nothing precludes other departments or entities from seeking to recover additional funds.
A call to Madoff's lawyer, Ira Sorkin, after hours Friday was not immediately returned.
In his own court filing in March, Sorkin said the government's forfeiture demand of $177 billion was "grossly overstated — and misleading — even for a case of this magnitude."
The agreements strip the Madoffs of all their interest in properties belonging to them, including homes in Manhattan, Montauk, and Palm Beach, Fla., worth a total of nearly $22 million. The Madoff's must also forfeit all insured or salable personal property contained in the homes.
Other seized assets include accounts at Cohmad Securities Corp., valued at almost $50 million, and at Wachovia Bank, valued at just over $13 million, and tens of millions of dollars in loans extended by Madoff to family, employees and friends.
The judge's order also authorized the U.S. Marshals Service to sell the Manhattan co-op, properties in Montauk and Palm Beach and certain cars and boats.
Madoff is due to leave his jail cell to hear his punishment on Monday. For his victims, even a lifetime in prison may not be enough.
Madoff's clients, who once considered themselves lucky to be part of his seemingly exclusive investment circle, have struggled in the six months since his arrest with lost nest eggs, unpaid bills, anxiety, depression and anger over what they see as an unfair process to try to get any money back.
The courtroom drama is expected to draw many victims, including a few who will describe their financial ruin to the judge. Others plan a rally to publicize their plight, saying they worry they'll be forgotten once Madoff is put in prison.
"We don't care about what happens to Madoff," said Laurance Cohen, 79, of Eldorado, N.M., who together with his wife Marcia, 78, plan to be outside the Manhattan federal courthouse when the swindler is sentenced.
"We just want to get our money back."
For many, there will be no justice until more people they believe were in on the crime join Madoff behind bars. Madoff, 71, has pleaded guilty to running a long-standing Ponzi scheme and is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison. Court papers filed Friday indicate federal prosecutors are seeking a 150-year term, although Madoff's lawyer has said his client should serve only 12 years.
They are angry that Madoff's wife, their two sons and his brother, who have not been charged with any wrongdoing in what was a family-run business, do not appear to be suffering like they are.
"I think my biggest concern is that, basically, everything has gone according to his plan," said Jen Meerow, a New York resident who lost money to Madoff. "It is upsetting to know there are people at all levels of this that are probably going to get away with it."Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff must forfeit $170 billion, a federal judge ordered... more
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Federal prosecutors have notified a New York court that they also want the assets of Bernard Madoff's wife.Federal prosecutors have notified a New York court that they also want the assets of... more
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