Ruth Madoff, the wife of Bernhard Madoff, the creator of the $65 billion ponzi scheme, the largest ever recorded, has agreed to give up her claim to more than $80 million worth of assets, for being allowed to keep just $2.5 million cash. This amount of money would have been considered only pocket change by the couple, a few months ago.

The agreement was arrived at with the federal prosecutors. The Madoff’s were claiming the nearly $70 had been accrued independent of the ponzi scheme and were in Ruth Madoff’s name.

71 year old Bernard Madoff is to be sentenced to 150 years imprisonment and is facing the rest of his natural life in prison. Madoff has not named any accomplices, though few believe he acted alone.

Ruth will be forced to look for a new home, as their $7 million apartment in Manhattan and $11 million Palm Beach house in Florida, plus a $3 million home on Long Island are all sold, besides their boats and cars. Ruth could have been facing both criminal and civil charges, though her involvement in the ponzi scheme is hard to prove. Ruth says she is betrayed and confused by the actions of her husband. “The man who committed this horrible fraud is not the man whom I have known for all these years.”

At the time of Madoff’s arrest, Ruth Madoff held $45 million in municipal bonds, plus $17 million in a bank account. She also withdrew $15.5 million in the weeks leading up to her husband’s arrest. The couple was caught trying to pass pieces of expensive jewelry to family members, at the time of the arrest.

Currently Ruth has been dubbed as the ‘Loneliest women in New York’, as past acquaintances distance themselves from the beleaguered couple. “She wants enough to live on the rest of her life in peace,” said one of the legal sources who didn’t want to be named.

The questions remain – Surely the Madoff’s did not hold all their assets in one place? And is the $2.5 million a payoff for not being prosecuted alongside her husband?