Financier Bernard Madoff said his wife should be allowed to keep nearly $70 million worth of assets held in her name, including the Manhattan penthouse where he is currently under house arrest, because they are unrelated to his alleged fraud, the Wall Street Journal reported.
AP
According to the report, Madoff's claim about his wife's assets was noted in a footnote of a federal-court filing Monday.
The claim came as a federal judge modified a prior order freezing Madoff's assets.
Prosecutors will now be allowed to seek seizure of Madoff's assets without violating the prior order, the WSJ reported.
The filing didn't address whether Ruth Madoff's assets should be subject to seizure if her husband is convicted in an alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme and prosecutors should seize his assets to compensate victims, the Journal said.
Madoff's wife has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
Her assets include the $7 million penthouse, $45 million of municipal bonds, and $17 million at a bank, according to the report.