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Ruth Madoff

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Ruth Madoff
Born
Ruth Alpern

(1941-05-18) May 18, 1941 (age 83)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma materNew York University
Queens College
OccupationBookkeeper
EmployerBernard L. Madoff Investment Securities
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1959; died 2021)​
Children

Ruth Madoff (/ˈmeɪdɔːf/ MAY-doff;[1] née Alpern; born May 18, 1941)[2] is an American former bookkeeper and the widow of Bernie Madoff, the convicted American financial fraudster who served a prison sentence for a criminal financial scheme until his death in April 2021. After her husband's arrest for his fraud, she and her husband attempted suicide in 2008. While she had $70 million in assets in her name, after her husband was imprisoned she was stripped of all of her money other than $1–2 million by the government, and by the trustee for her husband's firm, Irving Picard.

Early life

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Madoff was born in Queens, New York, to Saul (an accountant who died in 1999, at age 95) and Sara (Presser) Alpern (died in 1996, at age 92),[3][4] and raised in middle class Laurelton, Queens,[5] in a practicing Jewish family. She has one sister, Joan Roman.[3] A graduate of Far Rockaway High School and a 1961 graduate of Queens College with a degree in Psychology, she graduated from New York University with a Master of Science degree in nutrition in 1992.[6][7][5][8][9]

Personal life

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On November 28, 1959, at age 18, she married Bernie Madoff,[10] whom she had met while attending Far Rockaway High School. He was three years older than Ruth.[5]

Mark Madoff's Nantucket home

They had two sons, Mark (1964–2010), a 1986 graduate of the University of Michigan;[11] and Andrew (1966–2014), a 1988 graduate of University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.[12][13][14][15] Both of her sons predeceased her: Mark, by suicide, in 2010, and Andrew, from lymphoma, in 2014. On the morning of December 11, 2010—exactly two years after his father's arrest—Mark was found dead in his New York City apartment. The city medical examiner ruled the cause of death as suicide by hanging.[16][17][18]

She worked for some time as her husband's bookkeeper.[19] A Vanity Fair article stated that, during the time when she was a bookkeeper, employees in the London office stated "Ruthie runs all the books".[19] She was a director of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities.[20]

Ruth stated during an interview that she and her husband were so upset after his financial fraud was exposed that they had attempted suicide together, with both taking "a bunch of pills" (Ambien, and perhaps Klonopin) in a suicide pact on Christmas Eve 2008, just after her husband had been arrested by federal authorities.[21][22] However, they woke up the following day.[22]

When Ruth Madoff's husband was sentenced in 2009, victim Marcia FitzMaurice said in a court statement: "Your wife, rightfully so, has been vilified and shunned by her friends in the community."[23] After her husband was sent to prison, Ruth Madoff sought to avoid being recognized in public, even dyeing her hair red.[22]

Assets

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According to a March 13, 2009, filing by Madoff, he and his wife were worth up to $138 million, plus an estimated $700 million for the value of his business interest in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.[24] Other major assets included securities ($45 million); cash ($17 million); half-interest in BLM Air Charter ($12 million); a 2006 Leopard yacht ($7 million); jewelry ($2.6 million); a Manhattan apartment[25] ($7 million); a Montauk home ($3 million); a Palm Beach home ($11 million); a Cap d'Antibes, France, property ($1 million); furniture, household goods, and art ($9.9 million); and a restored 1969 Rybovich sportfishing yacht ($800,000).[26]

Following her husband's incarceration, most of the Madoff family assets were seized by the government, including the couple's Upper East Side penthouse in New York City.

In June 2009, shortly before Bernie Madoff was sentenced, prosecutors reached an agreement allowing Ruth Madoff to keep $2.5 million, while taking and selling the Madoffs' other assets.[27] The settlement, however, did not preclude others, such as the court-appointed trustee Irving Picard of BakerHostetler who was liquidating her husband's firm, from seeking to recover funds from her, for example as a wrongful transferee of funds transferred to her.[28] Bernie Madoff's lawyer had asked the government to allow his wife to keep $70 million in assets that were in her name, as he forfeited all rights to assets totaling $170 million.[29]

In May 2019, 77-year-old Ruth Madoff agreed to pay $594,000 ($250,000 in cash, and $344,000 of trusts for two of her grandchildren), and to surrender her remaining assets when she dies, to settle claims by the court-appointed trustee Picard liquidating her husband's firm for former customers.[27] Picard had sued Ruth Madoff for $44.8 million, saying she had lived a "life of splendor" on the gains from the fraud committed by her husband, but settled for less, given her limited assets.[27][30] Picard said that the settlement was not evidence she knew of or participated in the fraud.[27] She is required to provide reports to Picard about her expenditures often, as to any purchase over $100, to ensure she does not have any hidden bank accounts.[31][32]

Homes

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In 2012, Ruth Madoff moved to one of her son Andrew's houses in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, after spending two years living in Boca Raton, Florida, with her sister. Following Andrew's death in 2014, Ruth moved to a nondescript condo-complex in Old Greenwich, living in a one-bedroom apartment.[31][33] Since September 2020 she has resided with Susan Elkin, her former daughter-in-law from Mark Madoff's first marriage, in a $4.4 million beachfront property in Old Greenwich.[34][35]

In the media

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References

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  1. ^ "Voice of America pronunciation guide". Voice of America. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011.
  2. ^ "Ruth Madoff 05/18/1941 1-646-724-1950".
  3. ^ a b Jerry Oppenheimer (2009). Madoff with the Money. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470572818. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  4. ^ "Bernie Madoff's bride grew up in a Laurelton home".
  5. ^ a b c Brian Ross. "The Madoff Chronicles: Inside the Secret World of Bernie and Ruth". Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  6. ^ "Madoff Enjoyed $50 Pedicures, 9.8 Handicap, Boat (Correct)". bloomberg.com.
  7. ^ "The Trials of Ruth Madoff", People, February 21, 2011; retrieved April 14, 2011.
  8. ^ Alison Leight Cowan (January 14, 2009). "A Madoff Cookbook Has a Secret, Too". The New York Times.
  9. ^ David Segal; Alison Leigh Cowan (January 14, 2009). "Madoffs Shared Much; Question Is How Much". The New York Times.
  10. ^ "Have pity on Ruth Madoff". CNN. November 14, 2009. Archived from the original on December 24, 2009. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
  11. ^ Ross, Brian (December 12, 2020). "Excerpt: Inside the Madoff Family, the Mets Connection". ABC News. Archived from the original on December 13, 2010. Retrieved October 24, 2020. Mark was the eldest, born in 1964. ... Mark received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at the University of Michigan ...
  12. ^ "A Charmed Life, a Tragic Death". People. January 10, 2011. Archived from the original on April 18, 2011. Retrieved April 15, 2011. Today would have been Mark's 47th birthday! I will never forget the kind and fun loving person he was. This will always be a difficult day of the year for me.
  13. ^ "The Tale of the Madoff Sons". New York Magazine. June 3, 2009. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
  14. ^ "Mark Madoff in 'The Madoff Chronicles'". MSNBC. December 12, 2010. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
  15. ^ "The Trials of Ruth Madoff". People. February 21, 2011. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
  16. ^ "Officials: Bernie Madoff's Son Mark Madoff Found Dead Of Apparent Suicide In Soho Apartment". CBS. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  17. ^ Martha Graybow; Daniel Trotta (December 11, 2010). "Madoff's son found dead in apparent suicide". Financial Post. Retrieved December 11, 2010.[permanent dead link‍]
  18. ^ "Madoff's son suicide follows battle with trustee". NBC News. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  19. ^ a b Mark Seal. "Ruth's World". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on October 13, 2012.
  20. ^ "For Ruth Madoff, New York Is the Loneliest Place," The New York Times.
  21. ^ "Fraudster Bernard Madoff and wife 'attempted suicide'". BBC. October 26, 2011. Retrieved October 27, 2011.
  22. ^ a b c Brian Ross; Mark Schone (October 26, 2011). "Bernie Madoff and Wife Ruth Attempted Suicide". ABC News. Archived from the original on October 28, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2020. Ruth Madoff says that she and her husband downed pills, Ambien and perhaps Klonopin, on Christmas Eve, 2008, just after their sons Mark and Andrew had turned Bernie into federal authorities. She says she didn't mix the pills with alcohol because she was afraid they would vomit the pills back up.
  23. ^ "Why Does Ruth Madoff Inspire Such Vitriol? -- New York Magazine - Nymag". New York Magazine. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
  24. ^ McCool, Grant (March 13, 2009). "Madoff to appeal bail, net worth revealed". Reuters. Retrieved March 13, 2009.
  25. ^ Robin Finn (August 16, 2013). "A Former Madoff Penthouse Goes Back on the Market". The New York Times.
  26. ^ McShane, Larry; Kennedy, Helen (April 2, 2009). "Marshals seize Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff's Palm Beach mansion, 1969 Rybovich luxury yacht". NY Daily News. Archived from the original on January 6, 2018.
  27. ^ a b c d "Bernie Madoff's wife Ruth settles with court-appointed trustee". CNBC. May 6, 2019. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020. Ruth Madoff, the wife of imprisoned swindler Bernard Madoff, agreed to pay $594,000 and surrender her remaining assets when she dies to settle claims by the court-appointed trustee liquidating her husband's firm.
  28. ^ "Will Ruth Madoff Keep Her Remaining $2.5 Million In Assets?"
  29. ^ "Ruth Madoff forfeits asset claims, left with $2.5 million," Reuters.
  30. ^ "Trustee Sues Ruth Madoff for More Than $44 Million," The Wall Street Journal.
  31. ^ a b Brian Ross; Megan Christie; Rhonda Schwartz (February 3, 2016). "Life After Madoff: Ruth Living on $2.5 Million in Connecticut". ABC News. Archived from the original on September 20, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2020. Instead of a sprawling Manhattan penthouse she lives in a rented one bedroom, 989 square foot apartment in Connecticut.
  32. ^ Kaitlin Menza (May 19, 2017). "How Bernie Madoff Took His Family Down". Town and Country magazine. Archived from the original on December 29, 2019. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  33. ^ "Ruth Madoff: Living quietly inside the glare". Greenwich Time. May 27, 2017. Archived from the original on February 7, 2020. Madoff has lived in Old Greenwich since 2012, when she moved in with her son Andrew Madoff on Tomac Avenue. She then resided in an apartment and condo-complex in Old Greenwich.
  34. ^ "Where is Bernie Madoff's Wife Now? Ruth Madoff Lived in Rental After Husband's Downfall". International Business Times. April 15, 2021.
  35. ^ "What is Bernie Madoff's Wife, Ruth Madoff, up to These Days?".
  36. ^ "Cate Blanchett on Studying Ruth Madoff," CBS News, accessed August 31, 2015.
  37. ^ Messer, Lesley (June 26, 2015). "See Richard Dreyfuss and Blythe Danner as Bernie and Ruth Madoff". ABC News. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  38. ^ "Robert De Niro To Play Madoff". Slashfilm.com. May 15, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2013.
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