Madoff wife would have trouble retaining property
March 13, 2009 by
Filed under Business
NEW YORK (AP) – If you want to stay with Ruth Madoff sumptuous apartment in the living, retain their millions of dollars in cash and jetset life style while her husband is in prison, experts recommend that it is ready for an inquisition . Lawyers and securities experts say that will have difficulty Madoff andalusia want to prove their assertion that the $ 69 million of the couple are not related to fraud pyramid of her husband.
“It will be very difficult to prove that nothing is stained,” noted Alton Abramowitz, vice president of the National Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers of America.
Some angry investors suspect that the money ended up in the hands of Ruth Madoff. At the court hearing that her husband pleaded guilty on Thursday, the mere mention of his name provoked ridicule and laughter.
But although she was not charged with any crime, Ruth Madoff fortunate to be thoroughly investigated by federal prosecutors and civil lawyers.
Investors will want to see receipts for personal bank accounts, credit card receipts, tax returns and checks paid, as well as documents for your business.
“The process gives us the right to look around to try to prove that Mrs. Madoff won not only their money,” noted Jeffrey Sonn, a specialist stock of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who represents dozens of victims of Madoff. “It’s an intrusion, but this is the procedure.”
What these credit card receipts show is a pleasant life, with homes in Palm Beach, Florida, in southern France and at the tip of Long Island, plus a penthouse worth $ 7 million in an exclusive area of Manhattan. Also, include air travel and private yachts.
Ruth Madoff, 67, worked with her husband from the beginning, and reportedly had an office close to him until the end, when he was arrested in December.
The couple had two sons, Mark of 44 years and Andrew, 42, who are talking with investigators.
Now the life of privilege of the couple gradually disintegrates under criminal and civil cases.
A lawyer for Mrs. Madoff, Peter Chavkin, refrained from making statements on Thursday. But your client has to prove that their assets from their own income or their own money, and not mixed with ill-gotten proceeds of crime money from her husband.
Is probably already preparing his defense with the help of her husband.
In a long speech on Thursday, Madoff told the judge that parts of their business was legitimate and successful, apparently in an effort to demonstrate that some of the family assets are separate from the fraud.
“You’re trying to save the rest of his family,” said Judith Welling investor. “We need to know who else was involved, and obviously we need to freeze the assets of all of them to help victims,” he added.
Madoff and his lawyers also assert that the department of Manhattan and an additional $ 62 million in bonds and cash can be exempted from going to the investors because they are on behalf of Ruth Madoff and are not related to fraud.
“We are all skeptics with that because, how she won 70 million dollars?” Asked Sonn. “You need to show the path to establish that comes from another source other than the values of Madoff.
