Catching up with Ruth Madoff after Bernie's fall
11/13/2015 12:58 pm PST
Bernard Madoff is arguably still the most hated man in New York. Madoff defrauded investors out of billions of dollars, all while living the extravagant life with his family. But now that he's in jail for the biggest financial fraud in U.S. history, where is his wife Ruth?
"I caught up with Ruth Madoff and asked her if she was happy that her husband's victims are finally starting to see some compensation, but before the cameras were rolling she actually started swinging at me," said Jason Mattera. "We turned the cameras on and continued asking her questions. She flat-out refused to answer and was visibly annoyed."
Jason Mattera tracked her down in Connecticut. Ruth Madoff sure wasn't happy to see Crime Watch Daily at her doorstep.
"I was surprised to see where she was living," said Mattera. "It was a far cry from her Manhattan penthouse days and life of opulence. Now she's about an hour outside the city in this small townhouse community."
Ruth Madoff is paying a reported $3,000 a month for a two-bedroom apartment in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, 35 miles and a galaxy away from the lavish Upper East Side where she and Bernie lived large before he traded his penthouse for the penitentiary.
In his heyday Madoff was the king of Wall Street, a stock-picking genius, the chairman of the NASDAQ Stock Market.
He made millions of dollars legitimately, but made billions through fraud and deceit. Madoff admits he ran a giant Ponzi scheme using money from new clients to pay off the old ones.
"People lost everything because of her husband, but Ruth wasn't interested in answering any questions," said Mattera. "In fact, my biggest surprise is that she wasn't even contrite or remorseful. I mean she wasn't even indifferent, she was irate that we were asking her some basic questions about her Ponzi-schemer husband."
In the end, billions were lost and people's lives and savings were completely destroyed.
Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 felony counts and was sentenced to 150 years in federal prison.
At his sentencing, Bernie Madoff apologized to his victims, saying: "I am responsible for a great deal of suffering and pain. I understand that. I live in a tormented state now knowing all the pain and suffering I have created."
And just like his victims, Bernie Madoff's family suffered from the sins of the father.
Ruth told "60 Minutes" that after the fraud was exposed, she and Bernie made a suicide pact and downed a bunch of pills. She said they fell asleep on the four poster bed in their penthouse, hoping to slip into death, but they woke up the next morning.
Then two years to the day after his father's arrest, Bernie's son Mark committed suicide by hanging.
Neither Mark nor Ruth have been criminally charged in connection with Bernie's fraud case.
Life is much different for Ruth Madoff these days.
Ruth still has a nice place to live. She was allowed to keep $2.5 million from her husband's ill-gotten gains, but the feds took the rest away, and any money confiscated from his crimes is being used to pay back victims.
Ruth Madoff is getting a taste of what it's like for the rest of the 99 percent: No more shopping sprees on Fifth Avenue, just Ikea and CVS, and an apartment with a turkey on the door.