Business | General
Madoff placed under house arrest as prosecutors fear 'harm or flight'
Bernard Madoff, accused in a $50 billion investment fraud, was placed under 24-hour house arrest in his $7 million New York City apartment after prosecutors warned of his "harm or flight."
- Bloomberg
- Published: 10:07 December 20, 2008
New York: Bernard Madoff, accused in a $50 billion investment fraud, was placed under 24-hour house arrest in his $7 million New York City apartment after prosecutors warned of his "harm or flight."
Madoff, 70, had been subject to electronic monitoring and a 7pm curfew under a December 17 court order.
Now he is barred from leaving his Upper East Side apartment except for court appearances, and his building will be watched by security guards and video surveillance, according to a letter from prosecutors filed on Friday in federal court in Manhattan.
The security service, scheduled to be in place by Saturday, will watch Madoff's doors and will be able to send a signal from an observation post to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to the letter.
One reason for the new bail conditions was "to prevent harm or flight," the government said.
"The bail conditions are what the government has agreed to," Madoff's lawyer, Ira Sorkin, said in an interview, declining further comment.
He wouldn't say whether Madoff had been threatened.
Madoff, 70, was arrested on December 11 after telling his two sons and federal investigators that he had been using money from new investors to pay off old ones in a massive Ponzi scheme.
He said clients of New York-based Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC lost $50 billion.
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