NEW YORK — A federal judge may have placed accused master swindler Bernard Madoff on ankle-monitored house arrest, but don't feel too sorry for the former Nasdaq boss.Madoff's Upper East Side, Manhattan, "jailhouse" is outfitted to the tune of $7 million.
And, should the judge allow him weekend release, he'll have his choice of retreats to think about how he's going to explain bilking investors out of an estimated $50 billion.
The first is a 5-bedroom 6,300-plus square-foot secluded Palm Beach waterfront residence valued at a cool $23 million. And, if he wants a little company, he only has to head down the street to a Palm Beach condo valued at around $1 million.
And -- depending on how long the case takes to go through trial -- when the weather warms up in the Northeast, he can relax on Long Island's swanky East End, in a modern-design beachfront home in Montauk valued at just over $3.3 million.
U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein ordered Madoff to remain under nightly house arrest Wednesday, setting a 7 p.m. to 9 a.m. curfew in the Manhattan apartment. Madoff also was ordered to wear an ankle-monitoring bracelet at all times, and his wife, Ruth, was told to surrender her passport by noon Thursday.