Madoff's wife evicted from luxury penthouse

US federal marshals seized disgraced financier Bernard Madoff’s $7m (€5m) Manhattan penthouse yesterday and forced his wife to move out and leave her possessions behind.

Proceeds from a sale of the property and its contents could be used to help reimburse those who lost billions of dollars investing with Madoff.

It was not immediately clear where 67-year-old Ruth Madoff went to live.

The 71-year-old Madoff was sentenced on Monday to 150 years in prison. He pleaded guilty in March to charges that his investment advisory business was a multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme that wiped out thousands of investors and ruined charities.

Authorities said Madoff had carried out the fraud for at least two decades and that he had lost as much as $50bn (€35bn).

Last week, Mrs Madoff agreed to give up all of her possessions in return for a promise that federal prosecutors would not pursue $2.5m (€1.8m) not tied to the fraud.