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The Look Of Ruth: Mrs. Madoff Volunteers, Gets Dye Job
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 18, 2010
Modified Jul 18, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 18, 2010
Modified Jul 18, 2010
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Could it be? Is the wife of the world's biggest Ponzi schemer (to date) really trying to give back to the masses by...doing charity volunteer work? According to the Post, Ruth Madoff, "the formerly monied Manhattan matron," spends much time in "south Florida, where she bunks with relatives and apparently does God's work, delivering meals to the homebound, The Post has learned. The former billionaire's wife has been reduced to driving around in a 14-year-old clunker, with a parking placard in the back seat that reads, 'homebound delivery volunteer driver.'"
After husband Bernard Madoff was sentenced, Ruth Madoff came to an agreement with the feds that left her with $2.5 million, which is apparently enough for her not to get a job. But that means, besides riding the subway, she's saving by buying a used Infiniti for her driving in Florida. Her lawyer tells the Post, "She doesn't own a home, friends and relatives have been kind enough to give her places to stay."
The Post adds that Madoff, who is using her maiden name "Alpern," "regularly pops up at her sister's" allegedly "tacky" $300,000 Boca Raton condo (well, tacky compared the Madoff's old Palm Beach estate) and "mooches at brother-in-law Peter Madoff's $4.5 million Palm Beach mansion... where the local postman says he delivers Ruth's mail." She's been in Florida because...no one will rent or sell her an apartment in NYC.
Back in Manhattan, ABC News found Ruth Madoff out and about with red hair. When the news crew approached her, the 67-year-old said, "Oh my God," but said nothing when asked about her husband's victims (video after the jump). One of those victims said, "She was her husband's bookkeeper for all those years, and we wonder why she has not been prosecuted for all this." Ruth Madoff reportedly regularly visits her husband in prison; inmates allegedly joke to Bernie, "I’m getting out, and I’ll keep her company."
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Bernard Madoff
dye job
ponzi scheme
Ruth Madoff
volunteer work
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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