Prosecutors want Madoff locked up for shipping valuables to friends, relatives

Even after causing $50 billion worth of losses to investors by perpetrating the biggest fraud in history, Bernard Madoff, is still, technically, a free man. He may have been required to wear an electronic collar to keep authorities notified of his whereabouts, but enjoys considerable freedom of movement nevertheless. Now, prosecutors have called for Madoff to be locked up until his trial, after it emerged he had been siphoning out valuables from his luxury home to family and friends.

Madoff mailed five packages of items, including ''some very valuable jewelry,'' after his assets were frozen by a judge in a related civil lawsuit, said Assistant US Attorney Marc Litt in court yesterday. According to him, a single one of the packages sent in the post was worth more than $1 million. This was clearly a violation of the asset freeze ordered by a judge when Madoff was released on a $10-million bail.

Litt said that the dispersal of the valuables was a risk to the public that justified imprisonment before trial. He also said that the likelihood that Madoff would eventually be imprisoned increased the risk of him fleeing prosecution. ''The case against the defendant is strong, and it's getting stronger,'' the prosecutor said, making it more likely Madoff will flee. The transfer was an ''obstruction of justice.''

Defence lawyer Ira Sorkin said the objects, which included pens and $25 cuff links, were heirlooms innocently sent to Madoff's children and brother, Peter. He asserted that his client had not realised that the mailings violated the freezing of his assets. He also said that some of the items sent belonged to Madoff's wife and so were not covered by the freeze.

Sorkin said in an interview and in court that he learned from Madoff and his wife, Ruth, on 30 December of their transfer of assets and instructed his clients to retrieve the items, which they're doing. The government now possesses some of the assets, he said. Sorkin said Ruth Madoff may have transferred some items she owned before her 26 December agreement with the government not to do so.

Separately, prosecutors were told of the transfers last week by Madoff's children and by a New York City couple to whom Madoff sent some objects, Sorkin said. The couple, who haven't been identified, are now vacationing in Florida, he said.