Madoff put under curfew as he seeks people to vouch for him

NEW YORK -- The judge in the Bernard Madoff fraud case on Wednesday set new conditions for his bail, including a curfew and ankle-monitoring bracelet for the disgraced investor.

Madoff (MAY-doff) remains free on bail, with his wife and brother serving as co-signers for his bail package. A hearing had been scheduled for Wednesday in which Madoff was required to find two additional co-signers to vouch for him.

But with the scandal swirling around Madoff, he was unable to find co-signers. So the judge modified the bail package, and gave lawyers until Monday to come up with additional paperwork.

Madoff, wearing a baseball cap and a black jacket, said nothing to reporters as he walked out of the federal courthouse in Manhattan and drove away in a sport-utility vehicle. He was at the courthouse to sign over his Upper East Side apartment and his homes in Palm Beach and the Hamptons for his $10 million bond.

Madoff has already surrendered his passport, and now will be required to be at his Manhattan apartment from 7 p.m to 9 a.m. His wife was required to surrender her passport as well.

In related news:

• The chairman of a House Financial Services panel, Democratic Rep. Paul Kanjorski, says the scandal has further weakened already-battered investor confidence in securities markets and has raised more troubling questions about the effectiveness of the regulatory system.

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The Pennsylvania congressman said Wednesday he'll convene a congressional inquiry early next month to examine the alleged Madoff fraud and to determine why the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators failed to detect what he described as "these substantial evasions."

• U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey has removed himself from involvement in the Madoff investigation, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Mukasey's son, Marc Mukasey, represents Frank DiPascali, a Madoff firm official, in the probe.

Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said Wednesday that the attorney general would not oversee or otherwise be involved in any aspect of the investigation, which is being run out of the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan.