Legal News

For Ruth Madoff, It?s All About Just One Benjamin

By Ashby Jones

Imagine a life in which you, LBers, have to provide a monthly accounting to a trustee that includes a report of every expenditure you make over $100. No, really. Close your eyes and imagine this; sitting down on the 30th of every month with your receipts and a form for you to fill out. That new pair of running shoes? Write it down. The new pair of reading glasses? Yup. Those TreeWorks ZenTree Wind Chimes you just couldn’t resist? You betcha.

But such is the task recently ordered upon Ruth Madoff, wife of Bernie. The judge overseeing the bankruptcy of Bernie’s firm, New York bankruptcy judge Burton Lifland, on Friday ordered Ruth to provide a monthly accounting of all her income and assets, as well as her expenditures topping $100. Click here for the filing, which reads:

ORDERED that Defendant shall provide Plaintiff with a complete monthly accounting, on or before the fifth business day of the following month, with respect to any and all income or other assets received and any and all payments or other transfers made during the prior month; provided, however, the monthly accounting need only list those expenses that individually exceed $100.00 and list the current bank account balance as of the date of the accounting.

The news is just the latest dose of unwelcome news for Ruth in the last week or so. Irv Picard, the trustee for Bernie's collapsed firm, recently filed suit against her, seeking to recover some $44 million.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 03, 2009 (boomark / email).