Prosecutors Seek Assets of Madoff’s Wife and Sons

U.S. prosecutors want the wife and two sons of admitted financial scammer Bernard Madoff to hand over tens of millions of dollars in assets as part of the investigation into Madoff’s landmark financial fraud, the largest in Wall Street history.

Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty last week to ripping off thousands of investors out of about $65 billion in a massive Ponzi scheme. He has contended that he acted alone and that his wife and sons, who managed one of his firms, were not part of the scheme.

But federal prosecutors apparently aren’t convinced that Madoff’s scam was a one-man job.

In newly filed court documents, prosecutors indicated they are seeking certain assets linked to Madoff but held in the names of his wife, Ruth, and his two sons. The assets sought include unsecured loans, watches, jewelry, and interest in 20 entities, according to the government’s “notice of intent to seek forfeiture” filed in court today.

Madoff, a former NASDAQ chairman and well-known New York City financier, admitted to swindling investors by taking their money but failing to invest the funds in securities as he promised. He amassed a massive fortune over the nearly 20 years he was defrauding investors, but investigators have found just a few million dollars in Madoff’s accounts to be returned to clients.

It is suspected that Madoff spread the wealth to his family, buying up valuable real estate all over the world, luxury yachts, and other items with his clients’ money. The government is now seeking forfeiture of some of those assets, held in the name of Madoff’s wife and sons, as part of their investigation into the huge scandal.

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