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Ruth Madoff, the wife of accused con artist Bernard Madoff, plans to hire her own attorney and claims assets are “unrelated” to the alleged multibillion dollar Ponzi scheme orchestrated by her husband.

By David Glovin

March 9, 2009 (Bloomberg) -- Ruth Madoff, the wife of accused con artist Bernard Madoff, plans to hire her own attorney, according to a lawyer at the firm that represents the couple.

Ruth and Bernard Madoff have been represented by Ira Sorkin and Dan Horwitz at Dickstein Shapiro LLP in New York. Horwitz said in an interview today that Ruth Madoff will hire her own lawyer.

“Ruth Madoff will be retaining her own counsel,” Horwitz said. “The need arises because of her being named in two civil actions.”

Bernard Madoff, 70, is scheduled to appear tomorrow in federal court in Manhattan where a judge will explore whether Sorkin, whose father invested with Madoff, has a conflict of interest in the case. Madoff is set to appear in court again March 12, when he is scheduled to enter a plea to new criminal charges that will be filed against him.

Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin today told U.S. District Judge Denny Chin, who will preside over the hearings, that prosecutors received 25 e-mails from victims asking to speak at the March 12 hearing.

Of the 78 e-mails received in all, 11 concerned the March 12 plea hearing, one was about bail, 27 were about “sentencing and forfeiture issues,” and 14 others involved “miscellaneous” issues, Dassin said. Chin previously asked to be notified about the number of victims who wanted to speak.

Ponzi Scheme

Last week, U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton, who is presiding over a lawsuit against Madoff by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said the money manager’s lawyers claimed that Ruth Madoff alone owns a Manhattan apartment, $45 million in bonds and $17 million in cash. The attorneys said Ruth Madoff claimed those assets are “unrelated” to the alleged multibillion dollar Ponzi scheme orchestrated by her husband.

Bernard Madoff was arrested Dec. 11 at his apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side after allegedly confessing that he and his New York firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, used new money to pay old investors in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Madoff hasn’t formally responded to the federal securities-fraud charge pending against him. He faces as long as 20 years in prison if convicted.

Madoff, who is free on $10 million bail, has been ordered to remain in his apartment under house arrest.

Ruth Madoff hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing. Horwitz said he was unaware of whom she was planning on hiring.

The case is SEC v. Madoff, 08-10791, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

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