When last Thursday federal marshals seized the 8700 square-foot Palm Beach mansion owned by Ruth Madoff since 1994, most media attention was focused on the question of whether the government had the right to take over the property, as her application for Florida Homestead Exemption had been granted on January 12, 2009.
In order to clarify the situation, the Palm Beach Property Appraiser's office posted a note on its website stating that: "A Florida Homestead exemption does not mean a property is exempt from any court-ordered judgment related to a homestead property in Florida. Florida's Homestead Exemption does not guarantee a property cannot be seized in a criminal or civil court ordered judgment."
What the media did not focus on--and what Madoff Breaking News.com is reporting as an exclusive--is the likelihood that Ruth Madoff falsely swore when on November 13, 2006, she applied to register to vote in the state of Florida.
In order to qualify for Florida voter registration, she would have had to have listed her home at 410 N. Lake Way in Palm Beach, as her legal address. In 2007, when she first applied for Florida Homestead Exemption, however, her application and subsequent appeal were denied.
Why?
The Florida authorities must have determined that Ruth Madoff, for the purposes of participation in the New York STAR program, had, as required by New York law for STAR eligibility, listed her Manhattan apartment as her primary residence. As the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser's website states: " To qualify for Florida's Homestead Exemption tax-saving benefit, the property must be the owner's primary residence, must be a permanent resident of Florida, and cannot hold any residency based benefits in other Florida counties or states."
If, as seems likely, that Ruth Madoff did file a false oath in applying to vote in Florida--a third class felony in that state--she would be subject to up to five years in prison as well as up to a $5,000 fine, small potatoes, perhaps for her. That is, if federal prosecutors in New York's Southern District conclude that she participated in history's greatest Ponzi scheme ever.
Ruth Madoff's timing in trying to construct a legal identity in Florida as early as November 2006 and applying for Florida Homestead status in 2007, at least a year before the fraud unraveled, suggests that the Madoffs may have been hedging their bets on the future by creating a fail-safe situation wherein if they lost most assets, they would still retain their home in Florida.
It that was their reasoning, they received poor legal advice concerning that state's homestead provisions.
But then, it is our contention that Bernie has already paid the price of having received flawed legal advice, and on a far weightier matter, namely pleading guilty and going directly to jail.