Madoff: $7m Manhattan penthouse, $62m in assets 'unrelated' to fraud...let me keep 'em.

NEW YORK – Bernard Madoff is seeking to keep a $7 million Manhattan penthouse and an additional $62 million in assets, saying they are unrelated to the fraud that authorities say cost victims more than $50 billion. In court papers filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Madoff and his lawyer claim the apartment, $45 million in municipal bonds and $17 million more in a separate account all belong to Madoff's wife, Ruth.

The bonds in an account held by Ruth Madoff at COHMAD Securities Corp. and about $17 million held by her in a Wachovia Bank account "are unrelated to the alleged Madoff fraud and only Ruth Madoff has a beneficial interest in these assets," Bernard Madoff and lawyer Ira Sorkin said, according to the papers.

Sorkin declined to comment Monday.

A court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Madoff's assets has said the apartment and other property used to secure bail was off limits for now. But if there's a conviction, those assets and possibly property of Madoff "insiders" could be seized to help pay claims by alleged victims.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090303/ap_on_bi_ge/madoff_scandal