Ruth Madoff $45 million hidden monies

Hat tip to a JL reader who sent me this article..

The bankruptcy trustee in charge of the Bernie Madoff case has sued Ruth Madoff in a civil complaint today that may raise criminal questions about Mrs. Madoff to federal prosecutors.

The filing by trustee Irving Picard and his team from Baker Hostetler is part of an effort to uncover the web of international financing magic that Mr. Madoff—perhaps in concert with his wife and others—engaged in to keep his mammoth Ponzi scheme afloat and undetected over several decades.

Regarding possible criminal charges, “the U.S. Attorney is going to be furious,” says a source close to the investigation.

From the Picard complaint: “While Madoff’s crimes have left many investors impoverished and some charities decimated, Mrs. Madoff remains a person of substantial means. The inequity between Mrs. Madoff’s continuing financial advantages and the economic distress of Madoff’s customers compels the Trustee to bring this action. At this time, the Trustee has identified at least $44,822,355 that is subject to recapture from Mrs. Madoff.”

Even up until last night, as the trustee's office finalized the filing, sources tell The Daily Beast that Ruth was arguing with them that these actions would leave her homeless. Picard was unswayed. In the complaint, the trustee says Ruth Madoff got more than $3 million to pay her personal American Express bills over the last six years.

Specifically, Picard has sent lawyers around the world; they have uncovered money transfers in London, Gibraltar, Switzerland, and elsewhere, which his investigators say they believe represents efforts by the Madoffs to hide hundreds of millions of dollars, these sources say. There are more countries to come: Ireland is one scene of the trustee’s undisclosed efforts to recover money the Madoffs moved through London. British sources have told The Daily Beast that Madoff gave his wife over $70 million from money laundered through London before he was arrested.

The Picard complaint also reads, “Regardless of whether or not Mrs. Madoff knew of the fraud her husband perpetrated at BLMIS, during the past two-and six-year statutory periods, she received tens of millions of dollars from BLMIS for which BLMIS received no corresponding benefit or value and to which Mrs. Madoff had no good faith basis to believe she was entitled. The purpose of this action is to recover that money to the extent possible for the benefit of BLMIS and its defrauded customers.”

Read on.