Jailed Madoff Seeks Bail; He and Wife Held $823M in Assets in 2008
Jailed immediately as a flight risk after he pleaded guilty yesterday in a record-breaking $65 billion Ponzi scheme, Bernard Madoff already wants out.
His lawyers filed a federal court appeal today in New York seeking his release on bond prior to his scheduled June 16 sentencing, and a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments on the bond issue on Thursday, reports Reuters. He faces a likely life sentence in the criminal case.
Meanwhile, court papers filed today list the assets held by Madoff and his wife of nearly 50 years as of the end of 2008. They total $823 million, according to the DealBook blog of the New York Times. (Reuters gives the figure as $826 million.)
Previously, Madoff has been released on $10 million bail, but confined to his swanky home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
His fraud, which was operated under the guise of a hedge fund, originally was estimated to involve a stunning $50 billion but now the total take is believed to be closer to $65 billion
