Under Ruth Madoff’s Skin
“The proposed statements sent to us by Vanity Fair for comment are filled with factual falsities and reflect a clear bias. With Vanity Fair imposing essentially a 24 hour turnaround time to respond, we do not intend to rebut each of the over 30 statements Vanity Fair sent. Characteristic of the flat out falsehoods in those statements is Vanity Fair’s allegation that Ruth Madoff abandoned her sons. That is a lie. She loves her sons dearly and because of restrictions on communication with them imposed by the sons’ counsel—restrictions we respected—she was not in contact for several months. She never stopped loving them and it pained her deeply that she could not see them. Similarly false is the notion that Bernie Madoff was not around to help with the family. He took off a good deal of time to be with Ruth, Mark and Andrew throughout their lives. Ruth also never ordered a belly dancer, never envied her sister in law or anyone else, never screamed at a maitre d’ or chef, never screamed at someone at a party for Bernie, and focused on her family, not social status. Moreover, she did not know of or participate in her husband’s wrongdoing and all financial decisions, including Cohmad, the running of all Madoff companies, and investments in vehicles like Madoff Technology were made by Bernie for Ruth without Ruth’s participation. Notable among Vanity Fair’s very few accuracies are the statements that Ruth and a colleague published a cookbook at their expense—which they did to benefit the well respected charity Jewish National Fund—and that she lived with her husband after his arrest when he was confined, by the conditions of his court ordered bail, to the coop that she owned.”
— Vanity Fair gets under Ruth Madoff’s skin; it’s worth taking a look yourself. [link]