Madoff has at least one more weeked in apartment Bail Under Review

Madoff Gets One More Weekend Without Bars
JANUARY 9, 2009, 7:22 PM
The disgraced financier Bernard L. Madoff will spend at least one more weekend in his luxury apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

A federal judge will rule at noon on Monday on whether to revoke Mr. Madoff’s bail and send him to jail, a spokesman for the Federal District Court in Manhattan said Friday night. There had been speculation that a decision would come down by the end of the day on Friday.

Mr. Madoff has been under house arrest at his apartment, guarded by private security guards paid for by his wife. But prosecutors went to court on Monday to have Mr. Madoff’s bail revoked for violating the terms of his bail, one of which was a requirement not to dispose of any assets.

Prosecutors said that Mr. Madoff and his wife sent at least a million dollars worth of jewelry as gifts to family members and friends. In addition, prosecutors said, Mr. Madoff had plans to transfer $200 million to $300 million of investors’ money to family members and friends. Indeed, when authorities searched Mr. Madoff’s office desk, they found $173 million in signed checks ready to be sent off.

Mr. Madoff was charged last month with securities fraud but has remained free since posting bail of $10 million. He is accused of running a vast Ponzi scheme, which he is said to have estimated himself at $50 billion.