The possessions of financer Bernard Madoff and his wife Ruth from their homes in Manhattan, Long Island, Palm Beach which were seized by US federal marshal were auctioned off Saturday in New York. The proceeds will be used to pay back the victims of Maddoff as a little consolation, who had lost everything investing in his Ponzi scheme. The financial fraud who cheated his customers caused losses estimated around sixty billion dollars.
A 10.5 carat diamond ring and a Steinway grand piano were sold for $550,000 and $42,000 respectively. A leather footstool fetched $3,300. The monogrammed slippers went for $1,100. The bidder who won the auction for ring refused to disclose his identity. Along with the ring and the piano, thousands of items were also sold from the wardrobe of the couple in the auction without commissions.
When Madoff was arrested, in December 2008, his account statements showed details for $65 billion nonexistent investments with 4,900 accounts. Investors lost about $20 billion in principal. Irving Picard in a report said that in September the trustee watching the bankruptcy of Madoff  he had recovered about $ 1.5bn for the unfortunate investors. Madoff, the biggest fraudster of our times is serving a sentence of 150 years in jail for cheating pensioners, celebrities, and universities.
Via: Monsters and Critics
