Ruth Madoff

Accused Wall Street scammer Bernard Madoff and his wife, Ruth, will be going their separate ways — as far as lawyers go.

Defense attorney Ira Sorkin, who has been representing Madoff since his arrest in December for running a Ponzi scheme, has also been unofficially watching over Ruth Madoff’s interests, speaking out in public and in court. In one recent filing, Sorkin said that Ruth Madoff intended to fight any effort by prosecutors to seize $70 million in assets she claims are hers alone.

But with an expected guilty plea by Bernard Madoff coming on Thursday, yesterday Sorkin said that his client’s wife will be getting her own lawyer. He said an attorney has yet to be picked.

“Going forward, if and when the government wants to talk to her … she will be hiring her own counsel,” Sorkin told Newsday.

Sorkin also said it made sense for Ruth Madoff to have her own lawyer to handle civil suits that had been or are expected to be filed against her for the collapse of her husband’s business empire.

One defense attorney who didn’t want to be named said if Ruth Madoff ever hired her own lawyer it would be a telltale sign that her spouse was pleading guilty.

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http://www.newsday.com/business/bz-ruthmad0309,0,2617800.story

Bernard Madoff is seeking to keep a $7 million Manhattan penthouse and an additional $62 million in assets, saying they are unrelated to the fraud that authorities say cost victims more than $50 billion. (March 2) Associated Press | March 3, 2009

Bernard and Ruth Madoff (WSJ)

By Grant McCool

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York apartment and $62 million belonging to Ruth Madoff, the wife of accused swindler Bernard Madoff, are unrelated to the investment manager’s purported fraud, her lawyer said on Monday.

A judge in U.S. District Court in Manhattan partially lifted a freeze on assets of Madoff and his wife on Monday in the civil case so he can cooperate with a trustee winding down his firm to recover money for customers.

“While Madoff and his counsel do not object to the entry of the Relief Order … they maintain that some of the assets covered by the Relief Order are unrelated to the alleged Madoff fraud and only Ruth Madoff has a beneficial ownership interest in these assets,” said the order signed by Judge Louis Stanton.

It said these were her New York City apartment where Madoff is detained around the clock following his December 11 arrest, about $45 million in municipal bonds in an account held by Ruth Madoff at Cohmad Securities Corporation, and $17 million in an account held by her at Wachovia Bank.

The Madoff’s lawyer Ira Sorkin said “we stand by what is in the order” and declined further comment.

Madoff, a once-respected Wall Street trader and investment manager, was arrested and charged with fraud on December 11 after authorities said he confessed to running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme over many years. He is the only person charged in the purported scheme in which early investors are paid with the money of new clients.

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/burningIssues/idUKTRE5216SG20090303?sp=true