Madoff's Homes, Cars, Furniture Sought By Government

U.S. prosecutors want swindler Bernard Madoff and his wife Ruth to forfeit more than $100 million worth of homes, cars, boats, securities, silverware and a piano following his March 12 guilty plea, according to court papers.

Homes in Manhattan, Palm Beach, Florida, Cap d'Antibes, France and on New York's Long Island, valued at a total of $22 million, $17 million in a bank account and at least $45 million in COHMAD Securities Corp, a brokerage part-owned by Bernard Madoff, are on the government's list seen Monday.

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The 70-year-old Madoff, a former Nasdaq stock market chairman, was jailed Thursday after a dramatic courtroom guilty plea in Manhattan federal court to running the biggest investment fraud in Wall Street history that drew in as much as $65 billion over 20 years.

His sentencing on 11 criminal charges is scheduled for June 16, when he could be imprisoned for the rest of his life.

The U.S. government's "notice of intent to seek forfeiture of certain assets" also cites a Cayman Islands company called Yacht Bull Corp, three boats valued at more than $10 million, four cars, $65,000 in silverware and a Steinway piano worth $39,000.

In a court filing in early March, the Madoffs' lawyers said $69 million in property and accounts belonged to Ruth Madoff and was unrelated to the fraud.

For each of the properties, the government notice said "all insured and readily salable personal property contained therein" were included as items subject to forfeiture.

Ruth Madoff's lawyer, Peter Chavkin, declined to comment on the government's notice.

Bernard Madoff's lawyers were not immediately available to comment. In court papers on Friday, lawyers for Bernard Madoff argued for his release pending sentencing.

A list of assets filed with the appeal put the net worth of Madoff and his wife between $823 million and $826 million Madoff's business and personal assets were frozen following his Dec. 11 arrest.

A court-appointed trustee winding down the firm said last month he had recovered about $946.4 million for former customers.

Federal investigators are also looking to freeze the assets of Madoff's wife Ruth, because of fears she might flee the country or otherwise spirit away some of the $93 million in her name, the New York Post reported Sunday, citing sources.

The Post also said law enforcement sources told the paper that the freeze was just a first step and that prosecutors were working to build a criminal case against Ruth Madoff.

The report said the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors in Manhattan are preparing to ask a judge to formally freeze Ruth Madoff's assets as soon as possible. An SEC source told the Post that U.S. attorneys will ask for the freeze in the "next week or so." They will argue the assets are derived from ill-gotten gains, according to that source.

Married to Bernard Madoff for nearly 50 years, Ruth Madoff played no formal role at her husband's company and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Still, Ruth Madoff has gotten her share of attention in the case for activities including mailing more than $1 million worth of jewelry and watches in violation of a court order, withdrawing $15.5 million before her husband's Dec. 11 arrest and an attempt to separate millions of dollars of her assets from his purported fraud.

She has agreed to a voluntary asset freeze, but the Post says that agreement is not legally binding.

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