NEW YORK — If Ruth Madoff hopes to hold on to her fancy apartment, her millions in cash and her jet-setting lifestyle while her husband is in prison, experts have some advice for her: Get ready for an inquisition.
Attorneys and investment specialists say Ruth Madoff will have a difficult time proving her assertion that up to $69 million of the couple’s wealth was unrelated to her husband’s Ponzi scheme — even if she’s never charged.
“It’s going to be very hard for her to show that anything is untainted,” said Alton Abramowitz, national vice president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
Investigators will want to see personal bank statements, credit-card receipts, tax returns and canceled checks, as well as her business records.
Jeffrey Sonn, a securities specialist in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., representing dozens of Madoff claimants, said, “It’s intrusive, sure, but that’s the procedure.”
