Report: Ruth Madoff Leaving Husband Bernie After 52 Years Of Marriage
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Poor Bernard Madoff.
First, he was busted for orchestrating a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme. Then he was jailed for 150 years. And, now it seems that his wife of 52 years, Ruth, is calling it quits, according to a report in the U.K.'s Daily Mail.
WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reports: Rebuilding Her Life
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According to Madoff biographer Diana Henriques, Ruth, 70, has not visited her husband in prison since the December suicide of their eldest son, Mark.
Henriques, the first reporter to interview Madoff in prison and author of "The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust," appeared on CBS' "The Early Show" this morning and told host Chris Wragge that Ruth stayed with her husband because, her friends say, she had so much compassion for the schemer.
"She fell in love with him when she was 13, married when she was 18," Henriques said. "It was a 50-year romance, and she simply couldn't leave him. But for all practical purposes, the Madoff marriage was split apart by that 150-year prison sentence that will keep Madoff behind bars for the rest of his life. So my sense is that Ruth is now focusing all her efforts on rebuilding a relationship with her surviving son, Andrew, and her grandchildren."
Henriques also told Wragge that, "Bernie wants Ruth to do whatever she must to rebuild her life, even at the expense of their obviously limited time together. He cares very much about her, and I think wants her to have the comfort of her family in the years to come."
And as far at the Ponzi scheme? Henriques said things may be looking up for the victims.
"It's a remarkable recovery," Henriques said. "... The trustee, Irving Picard, is on track to potentially return victims up to 50 cents on the dollar of their out-of-pocket losses. Now, obviously, you can't rebuild the shattered lives. You can't recover the homes that were sold and the college educations. But in Ponzi scheme terms, this is a phenomenal recovery, if he only gets 50 cents on the dollar. That was the good news. He landed another billion-dollar out-of-court settlement just a few weeks ago, which was another big gain for him."
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