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Madoff Lists $826M in Assets

List reveals couple's homes, cash, luxury goods mostly in Ruth's name

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 14, 2009 6:52 AM CDT

(Newser) – A list of the Madoffs' assets released yesterday falls a long way short of the tens of billions investors and prosecutors are looking for, the Wall Street Journal reports. A $700 million valuation for Bernard Madoff's investment business made up the bulk of the roughly $826 million in assets listed, with the rest, including several houses, mostly in his wife Ruth Madoff's name.

The list—which also mentions $17 million in Ruth's bank account, a $7 million yacht, $2.6 million in jewelry, $65,000 worth of silverware, and a $39,000 Steinway piano—was submitted by lawyers as part of an effort to get Madoff freed on bail. Prosecutors say they plan to seek as much as $170 billion in forfeiture from the disgraced financier, who listed his liabilities at the end of 2008 at $265,000.

[Images (4)]

[Videos (1)]

Judith Welling, a Manhattan resident who lost money investing with Bernard Madoff, talks to the media outside the courthouse Thursday, March 12, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

Bernard Madoff arrives at Manhattan federal court Thursday, March 12, 2009, in New York. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)

Former financier Bernard Madoff, center, is escorted by federal agents into Federal Court in Manhattan, Thursday, March 12, 2009, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer4)

Bernard Madoff arrives at Manhattan federal court, Thursday, March 12, 2009, in New York. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)

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An investor talks about her feelings on seeing Bernard Madoff sent to jail. (clipsyndicate.com)

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Madoff Lists $826M in Assets