Ruth Madoff, the wife of convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, will lose the couple's $7 million Manhattan penthouse, according to a stipulation agreed to by the government and Madoff's defense attorneys. The couple's other homes in Palm Beach and the Hamptons are also set to be sold by U.S. Marshals.
Meanwhile, the government late Friday submitted its sentencing request, asking Judge Denny Chin to sentence Madoff to 150 years in prison – a term that is the equivalent to consecutive maximum sentences on all the counts of his indictment.
Alternatively, the government said in its twenty two page filing, he should serve a prison sentence that both would assure he would "remain in prison for life, and forcefully promote general deterrence."
"Madoff's crimes were serious and long-running, complex, and highly orchestrated and devastating to generations of investors around the country and abroad," states the filing.
Prosecutors estimated that the amount of money that flowed through the principal account used by Madoff to perpetrate the Ponzi scheme was approximately $170 billion, but many of his victims are now penniless.
"We now have nothing," said Kathleen Bignell, whose statement was included in the filing. "Only living off social security. I told my father (89) he could not die because I didn't have enough money to bury him."
Madoff's lawyer, Ike Sorkin, suggested this week that a sentence of 12 years "will sufficiently address the goals of deterrence, protecting the public, and promoting respect for the law."
The length of the sentence could determine whether Madoff is sent to a harsh maximum security federal prison facility. He has expressed fears of coping with the conditions in a maximum security facility and has met with private consultants who offer expert opinion on how to apply voluntary sentencing guidelines.
Madoff will be sentenced on Monday morning.
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