Bernie Madoff was responsible for the biggest stock market fraud in modern history. His Ponzi scheme cost his victims somewhere in the region of $50 billion. He is now in prison for the next 150 years but his properties and assets are to be sold to try and raise some cash for his victims. He always claimed to have been a lone gunman and that no-one else was involved but his CFO Frank DiPascali has now pleaded guilty to conspiracy and other charges and it is expected that he may be shown leniency in exchange for information incriminatin gothers.

The Manhattan penthouse where Madoff and his wife spent his last few days of freedom is set to be sold later this week. The apartment is a 7-room duplex with a wraparound terrace and is to be offered for sale at between $8 million and $10 million, without the furnishings.

The furnishings and art collection are to be sold separately at auction along with the Madoffs' clothes. Ruth Madoff had to surrender nearly all her belongings but was allowed to keep a few personal items when US marshals took possession of the apartment on July 2.

Bernie Madoff is being clothed and fed by the Bureau of Prisons, having left behind 50 or 60 custom-made suits and dozens of monogrammed shirts, plus countless numbers of shoes. He has also made himself some powerful enemies who lost a lot of money due as a result of his Ponzi scheme.

The Madoffs' have 4 properties which are to be put up for sale.

The Palm Beach mansion is expected to be listed later this week and their beachfront home in Long Island was listed last week.

They also have a chateau in Cap D'Antibes, France, but US Marshals do not have control over it. There are however plans to sell the yachts and other boats.

The contents of the Manhattan apartment which include canopy bed frame and floral-upholstered bedroom furniture, a Sub Zero refrigerator, hand-carved antique furniture and a Biedermeier clock, plus a Steinway piano worth $39,000, lamps, antique lighting fixtures and sconces worth about $1.7 million, and paintings, photographs and prints worth around $1.6 million. All paid or by "lies and deceit" as the US Marshals said.

The price of the penthouse, on 133 East 64th Street will be determined by the broker.

The Madoffs made their money by operating a Ponzi scheme. Their investors thought Bernie Madoff was investing their funds and getting good returns from the stock market. In fact he was merely paying the old investors out of money put in by new investors. This sort of scheme works fine as long as the stock market continues to function correctly but once the stocks start to hit the fan then all hell breakes loose as people scramble to get their money back. This is what happened to Bernie Madoff as more and more people wanted their cash back and he didn't have enough cash available to pay them all off. He also could not find any new investors to put in new money as no-one wanted to invest in stocks during the crash in 2007 and 2008.

As that wise old investor Warren Buffett says "when the tide goes out you see who isn't wearing any trunks".