by Howard Haykin

Ruth Madoff, wife of Ponzi criminal Bernie Madoff, has reached a settlement with Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee who’s still in the process of liquidating Madoff’s firm. 

Under terms of the settlement, which requires the approval of a federal bankruptcy judge, Ruth Madoff will:

(i) pay $250,000 in cash;

(ii) give up $344,000 in trusts held for 2 grandchildren; and,

(iii) surrender her remaining assets when she dies. [Mrs. Madoff is 77; Bernie is 81.]

Mr. Picard, in turn, agreed in papers submitted to the courts, that the settlement is not evidence that Mrs. Madoff admitted to “participating in or knowing of Bernard Madoff’s fraud.”

While Mr. Picard had sought nearly $45 million from Mrs. Madoff, he called the lesser settlement a “fair and reasonable compromise.”