For decades, Mrs. Madoff lived a life of splendor using the money of BLMIS’s customers. Regardless of whether or not Mrs. Madoff knew of the fraud her husband perpetrated at BLMIS, during the past two- and six-year statutory periods, she received tens of millions of dollars from BLMIS for which BLMIS received no corresponding benefit or value and to which Mrs. Madoff had no good faith basis to believe she was entitled. The purpose of this action is to recover that money to the extent possible for the benefit of BLMIS and its defrauded customers.

If one believes that Ruth had no clue that hubby Bernie was scamming the hell out of his customers, then she bears no moral or legal culpability for his actions.  A stretch, but speculation as to the quality of their pillow talk is none of my business.  But that has no bearing on whether Ruth gets to keep the loot. 

I can appreciate, as can any right-thinking person, how difficult this has been for Ruth.  Suffering the humiliation of falling from grace, not to mention losing her American Express Black Card and replacing it with a Wal-Mart Master Card.  Seriously, she was left with only a pittance to survive.

Now $2.5 million in the bank, for most people, would be considered a respectable nest egg.  Enough to do a dinner at Sonic plus a movie once a week.  Enough to buy a new car every three years, if only a Corolla.  But enough to survive if she was careful.  And cut coupons.  For most, this is doable, even normal and expected.  But these would require choices and skills that are unfamiliar in Ruth’s world.  It’s not her fault.  Bernie’s take home pay was very healthy, and when your sugar daddy brings in the big bucks, you’re allowed to live a decent life.

But a Life of Splendor?  Sure.  Why not?  If you’ve got the wherewithal, enjoy your life to the fullest.  As far as you know, it’s your money, your life, and you get to live it any old way you please.  Sorry for the anrachosyndicalists in the neighborhood, but rich people get to live like rich people.  It’s not a crime.  Unless it was a crime, which changes things.

Picard, whose job it is to recapture as much of the money that went through Bernie’s hands as possible and then dole it out to the victims of his fraud, has the duty of trying to get his hands on the money the government inexplicably decided to leave to Ruth.  That’s his obligation, and he’s absolutely right to fulfill his obligations with zeal.  He owes Ruth no sympathy, and she isn’t exactly a sympathetic person in the scheme of who’s been hurt here.

However, there’s no reason to attack Ruth’s lifestyle in the process, or to vilify her for having done what every red-blooded filthy rich American wife would do under the same circumstances.   Picard doesn’t need to justify doing his job by literally adding insult to injury.   Irv doesn’t need to win a public relations battle over his efforts to impoverish Ruth Madoff; there’s no one coming to her defense.

And is it wrong to leave Ruth broke?  No.  Not because she enjoyed the benefits of the good life, a life to which she was seemingly entitled given the zeros in the family bank account.  This is America.  People are allowed to be wealth and enjoy a Life of Splendor.  It’s what the rest of us strive to achieve.  Well, maybe not exactly a life of splendor, but the ability to afford to do as we please.  To denigrate someone for enjoying the life which she can afford is to suggest that there’s evil in financial success.  It is not evil.  It’s the American way.

Ruth Madoff will learn to survive, just as the other 99.9% of Americans do.  She will carefully follow the health care debate (health care is very important as one ages), and since she won’t be dining at the best restaurants frequently or attending charity Galas every Friday night, her clothing needs will be modest.

On the other hand, it’s unlikely that she will be eating cat food to survive.  If she finds herself falling short at the supermarket check-out counter, she can always ask one of her sons for a loan.  They still have a few bucks socked away.