Ruth Madoff: Summer in the City With No Apologies, Red Dye Job
Madoff victims wonder why she and other family members have not been prosecuted.
July 16, 2010 — -- While her husband Bernie spends the rest of his life in a federal prison, Ruth Madoff has been out on the town in New York City this summer, sporting newly dyed red hair and offering no apologies for the thousands of victims in her husband's multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme.
"Oh my God," Ruth said when she was approached by ABC News as she left an outdoor café in midtown New York.
The video is airing exclusively on this week's episode of Brian Ross Investigates, a new weekly investigative news show from Ross and the investigative team that airs on Hulu.com and ABC News Now, as well mobile devices like the iPad and iPhone.
She said nothing when asked if she had anything to say to her husband's victims, none of whom will ever recover all the money they lost.
She was spotted by a former Madoff employee who recognized Ruth despite the change in the color of her hair from blond to red.
"She was her husband's bookkeeper for all those years, and we wonder why she has not been prosecuted for all this," said Ronnie Sue Ambrosino, a Madoff victim who works as an advocate for other victims.
As a policy, federal prosecutors do not publicly announce in advance who is and who is not a target of a criminal investigation, but they allowed Ruth to keep $2.5 million in assets and to retrieve her US passport, which had been seized to prevent her from leaving the country.
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Through her lawyers, Mrs. Madoff has denied any knowledge of her husband's fraud scheme. In a written statement on the day of her husband's sentencing, she said, "to say that I feel devastated for the many whom my husband has destroyed is truly inadequate."
