Court deal strips Madoff wealth
A US court has stripped disgraced financier Bernard Madoff and his wife of their wealth.
Madoff forfeited rights to assets totalling $170bn (£103bn) – the figure prosecutors said passed through his investment firm over the years.
His wife Ruth agreed to forfeit $80m in assets – including property – but was left with $2.5m in cash.
In March Madoff, 71, pleaded guilty to masterminding a $50bn investment fraud and will be sentenced on Monday.
He has asked for a 12-year term, but prosecutors say they are seeking one of 150 years.
WHAT IS A PONZI SCHEME?
# A fraudulent investment scheme paying investors from money paid in by other investors rather than real profits
# Named after Charles Ponzi who notoriously used the technique in the United States in the 1920s
# Differs from pyramid selling in that individuals all tend to invest with the same person
Court papers said the figure of $150bn represents the total amount of money that could be connected to the fraud.
Losses identified as fraud currently exceeded $13bn, prosecutors said.
The $80m forfeited by Ruth Madoff – who is not facing charges – includes the couple’s Manhattan home, another also in New York and a house in Florida.
Bernard Madoff has admitted defrauding thousands of investors in a Ponzi scheme he said had been running since the early 1990s.
Source: BBC News
Related posts:
- Madoff set to remain behind bars
- Madoff investor commits suicide
- Bernard Madoff arrested over alleged $50 billion fraud
- Madoff in house arrest, SEC under fire
- Top investors ‘hit by $50bn con’
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Posted by Axxa News Team
on Jun 29 2009. Filed under Business.
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