No Apology From Ruth Madoff
Investors' Money From Bernie Madoff's Ponzi Scam Funded Lavish Lifestyle
Ruth Madoff was silent as she left a recent visit to the prison where Bernard Madoff is being held as he awaits sentencing in a nearly $65 billion ponzi scheme.
Mrs. Madoff was asked by ABC News if she had anything to say to the victims of her husband's scam or whether she played a role in it.
"I have no response to you," Ruth Madoff said.
Ruth has told members of her family that she feels lonely and shunned since her husband admitted to the fraud. But the victims of the scam have little sympathy.
"Why would you have sympathy for his wife in any of these circumstances?" asked Jon Landers, an attorney representing some of Madoff's victims. "She was one of the largest beneficiaries of the fraud. She enjoyed a very rich lifestyle that practically everyone would love to emulate and it was paid for by someone else," Landers said.
Documents recently released illustrate a lavish lifestyle that was funded by investors' money. American Express corporate platinum card statements show the Madoffs spent freely around the world.
There was a $1,900 dinner at a New York City restaurant.
Ruth Madoff spent nearly $3,800 on a Paris shopping spree.
Their sons, Andrew and Mark, spent more than $13,000 on a ski trip in Jackson Hole, WY.
"It becomes so easy and if you go on year after year after year and you're not caught then I'll go to Neiman Marcus and I'll pay for the yacht and I'll fly to Europe and I'll go to the Riviera because it becomes normal even though it's really criminal activity," said Brad Garrett, a former FBI agent and an ABC News consultant.
The documents filed in bankruptcy court by the trustee overseeing the liquidation show Madoff used investor money to reward key employees.
Madoff sent $2.2 million so that one staffer, now under criminal investigation, could buy a New Jersey beach house.
Frank DiPascali, Madoff's right hand man, was paid nearly $3 million a year. DiPascali's boat captain was also on the Madoff payroll, according to the documents.
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