Going, Going, Gone! Madoff Victims Auction Treasures

March 19, 2009— -- The 200-year-old gilded French clock with its matching candelabras had graced a Coral Gables, Fla., mansion until this week.

The prized antique and a host of other gems, literally and figuratively, were put on the auction block by some of the victims of the $65 billion Ponzi scheme masterminded by Bernie Madoff.

Also up for sale: a massive emerald necklace and a 16-carat diamond ring that once belonged to a wealthy South Florida woman.

"They're selling it because they woke up one morning and found out they're broke," said Jay Kodner, owner of Kodner Galleries in Dania Beach, Fla.

The auction included two dozen items put up by five people who entrusted their fortune to Madoff, who now sits in a jail cell, convicted of fraud on an epic scale.

Selling the high-end items like the French clock will help his victims keep the lifestyle they are accustomed to, for at least a little while longer.

The owners of the auctioned items were some of the richest people in America, but are now so singed by what happened to their fortunes they've insisted their identities be kept secret.

"There are people that have a $30,000-a-month living expense," Kodner told "Good Morning America" today.

That emerald necklace and diamond ring? They sold for a combined $80,000. The French clock went for $14,000.

But Madoff's scam didn't just touch the rich and famous.

'Heartbreaking' Losses for Madoff Victims

Elisa Schindler's late father was a prominent rabbi who entrusted his modest retirement savings to Madoff. Those savings are now gone. Her mother, she said, was forced to sell two family treasures and the family home.

"I'm glad my father didn't live to see this day, because it would've been very heartbreaking for him to know that he had prepared this for my mother, his beautiful bride to be taken care of," Schindler said. "And that didn't happen."

While Madoff's victims grapple with an uncertain and decidedly less comfortable future, the financier's associates and family are facing increasing scrutiny and investigation now that Madoff is behind bars, awaiting his June 16 sentencing hearing.

Longtime Madoff accountant David Friehling was charged with securities fraud Wednesday.

Madoff's wife, Ruth, and two sons were also put on alert when investigators said they intended to seize their fortune.

Investigators have said they are looking at them as possible accomplices, though no charges have been filed yet.