Madoff's wife pulled out $15 million before his arrest

[kpete]

Source: Reuters

Madoff's wife pulled out $15 million before his arrest
Feb 11 2009 12:12PM EST

BOSTON (Reuters) - The wife of accused Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff pulled $15 million out of a brokerage account only days before her husband was arrested, Massachusetts' top securities regulator said on Wednesday.

Secretary of State William Galvin said Ruth Madoff withdrew $5.5 million on November 25 and $10 million on December 10 according to reports produced by Cohmad Securities, a firm co-owned by her husband.

Madoff is accused of masterminding a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. He was arrested and charged with securities fraud on December 11. In a Ponzi scheme, early investors are paid with money from later investors.

For years, Cohmad Securities, partly owned by Madoff, received monthly payments from the financier for "professional services", "brokerage services" and "fees for account supervision," Galvin's office said.

Read more: http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/reuters/2009/02/11/madoffs-wife-pulled-out-15-million-before-his-arrest

[aquart]

1. What does that make her? An accessory?

[Loge23]

3. It makes her rich

Does anyone really think that anything will happen to these people?
The biggest problem for the Maddof's will be how to scrape by on $15M - a sum that is the equivilent of great generational wealth to most of us mortals.
I might as well send them a contribution also - after all, whatever is left of my savings is doomed to be totally worthless soon anyway.

[Howardx]

5. it makes her a co defendant

culpable, collusion, conspiracy.

[Loge23]

10. I hope you are right

I know you are, but our once-vaunted justice system seems to have another set of rules for the top 1%.

[Ghost Dog]

11. Hell, what do you think it costs to run this place:

On Manhattan Island???

http://www.1440wallstreet.com/index.php/site/comments/some_power_players_escape_madoff_debacle/

[Ghost Dog]

30. Correction,

correction. It looks like this is not Madoff's place (on Long Island): "It's Ira Rennert's house, not Bernie's!" - http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/printthread.php?threadid=147865

[pjt7]

19. Bernie will die or go to jail

That's a given. Not sure about his family & the many others involved in the fleece

[Baby Snooks]

14. If it were her money, it makes her smart...

He probably told her before he told his sons. I still halfway expect her to shove him over the balcony and plead insanity.

[Mira]

36. a SNITCH?

[childslibrarian]

37. Are we surprised? Why? The last admin...

Created an untouchable upper class...

[seemslikeadream]

2. Did the bank report her withdrawal like they do for everyone else?

[GodlessBiker]

4. Where did she put it? Under her bed?

[Serial Mom]

8. Probably in an offshore account where more of the 'made offs" money is!

[Baby Snooks]

24. She probably put it in her checking account...

Depends on where she has her checking account. Some banks are participating in an FDIC program which covers the full amount if the bank fails. No limit. $15,000, $150,000, $1,000,000, $15,000,000.

A lot of people don't know about that either. A lot of people don't know a lot about a lot of things in this country for some reason. Which is probably why the crooks end up so rich. And usually are never caught.

[frylock]

6. you have people hauled away to jail for selling dimebags..

and then you have shit like this. honest to crap, i'm ready to see heads on pikes. this is FUCKING bullshit!!!

[Joanne98]

7. She's a crook too!

[Baby Snooks]

17. She may not be a crook but she may be in some trouble...

If she had $15 million lying around then she had the money for the bail. As I recall, they claimed they had no cash and so they put up title to two properties instead. The federal courts prefer cash not title to property. Maybe the accounts hadn't settled and so she didn't have the cash that day. Or maybe she didn't tell them about it.

There are some investment assets that have raised more questions about the supposed Ponzi scheme. Almost $1 billion so far. There may also be assets tied to the London office. None of the story makes sense. The Ponzi scheme certainly doesn't. He's a little odd. Always was from what everyone says. And yet had this stellar reputation. And suddenly announces it was all a Ponzi scheme? I think there is something missing. Quite a few others think the same.

I personally think someone steered him into the wrong hedge fund markets deliberately and he lost quite a bit of the cash investment assets and sold the rest, the equities, and invested that and lost it and then he started distributing interest via the capital he had left hoping to raise more capital and reinvest it. One thing is for sure. You do not run a Ponzi scheme for 50 years paying the interest his investments paid. I doubt we will ever know. The SEC moved quickly to settle with him. And that may cause the federal investigation to move quickly as well. There is a lot being covered up. And not all by Madoff and his attorneys. Particularly the investments which were made in order to evade taxes. That might open up a can of worms for some who don't want it opened. Particularly if there with investments tied to UBS.

As to why would someone do that, just look at who got wiped out. Most of them liberal. Most of them very supportive of liberal causes.

I personally think someone did the same thing to Enron. Enron had some very potentially lucrative oil and gas leases. And then there is the pipeline in Afghanistan. That no one talks about for some reason. Enron by the way is still in business. Making some "conservators" and quite a few attorneys very, very rich. Most people don't realize that.

We live in a country run by a shadow government. And apparently there is a shadow Wall Street as well.

[Stephanie]

34. The pipeline in Afghanistan that was supposed to save Enron?

Yeah, it's very peculiar that it's never discussed. The pipeline would have saved Enron's power plant in Dabhol, India. Had the plant been saved, the company might have been saved. All of this occurred in 2001. How does it tie into Madoff? Thanks!

[Frustratedlady]

9. What's the difference between Martha's actions and Mrs. Madoff?

They sure work hard to make sure they don't suffer. Madoff remaining in his penthouse apartment and Mrs. retaining her wealth.

[DURHAM D]

16. Who is Martha? eom

[no_hypocrisy]

21. Martha Stewart, former stock broker and present cooking diva.

Look her up at K-Mart.

[DURHAM D]

27. A stupid reference.

Martha was charged and convicted of lying to a federal officer. There were no other crimes/charges. Further, she did not take a penny out of anyone's pocket. She only hurt herself.

If she was a he it would not have been prosecuted. But, few can stand a really successful woman - including so-called progressive Democrats.

[no_hypocrisy]

28. There was an alleged violation of the law by someone who was a

stock broker in her past and was familiar with the rules. Insider trading, if proven, hurts other shareholders who didn't have the advantage of deciding to sell at a particular time to make a profit because of information withheld to them.

[DURHAM D]

31. Martha could not be guilty of insider trading.

She was not on the board or an officer holder or anything else at Imitrex. Hello...

[4lbs]

22. Right now, Martha was convicted and Mrs. Madoff wasn't/isn't.

Let's revisit this in a year. :D

[paparush]

12. That should tide her over for, what, 60 days or so?

[Serial Mom]

13. Mrs. Ken Lay and Mrs. Madoff can room together

[Baby Snooks]

23. I doubt they have much in common...

Ruth Madoff for instance didn't call NBC News and ask if they wanted an interview so she could tell everyone how sorry she was and how they, too, had lost everything the way Linda Lay did.

Ruth Madoff kept her mouth shut, the door closed, the phone off the hook and used her cell phone to call the brokers and liquidate everything that was in her name. He has lost everything. She has not.

She most likely is what you call the proverbial innocent spouse. Linda Lay was until she gave the interview. Ruth Madoff is innocent so far. You never know though. She may yet push him over the balcony.

I don't think she is real happy about it all. The sons aren't. They really didn't know. Neither did several others who invested other people's money with him.

[acmavm]

25. I don't know why I'm asking you but you seem to know stuff so here goes,

HOW COULD THE SONS NOT KNOW? That's been driving me nuts. That just doesn't ring right.

The wife doesn't sound like an idiot. She didn't know either?

Oh brother.

[pjt7]

26. She most likely is what you call the proverbial innocent spouse

The scam has run for over 20+ years & involves every family member.

Come on'

[Serial Mom]

32. Wrong.... she is NOT the proverbial innocent spouse....

How could you possibly conclude that after her taking money out of their accounts?

She is as liable for getting rich by a scam as he is.

[Snazzy]

15. just a little walking around money (nt)

[Baby Snooks]

20. I don't think she walks around much...

Reports are she is sort of invisible. You see him walking around more than you do her. Maybe she's afraid to walk with him.

[samdogmom]

18. Wow! This is such a blatant example of Madoff knowing what he was facing!

Clearly he discussed this all with his wife and they figured out how to save things the best they could.

How do you defend this? I'm sad that he supported Democrats...but...bottom line the guy is a crook and he knew the noose was tightening so he had his wife pull money to make his existence stay on par with what he was used to experiencing.

The guy is guilty. He destroyed a lot of lives. And, now we learn that his wife did NOT try to knock sense in his head and stop him. Instead, she helped him. Thus, she's a crook too!

[Gin]

29. CohMad could be combination of her maiden name Cohen and married name Madoff

If....her maiden name was Cohen....just thinkin

[barbtries]

33. will she be going to jail

or should i say staying home with her husband now?

[bunny planet]

35. shoe shopping money no doubt, nothing suspicious there.

[SlipperySlope]

38. She was just getting some "fun money" for the weekend?

How was she supposed to know her hubbie was about to be arrested? Are people accusing her of having moles inside the FBI?