PALM BEACH, Fla., Sept. 7 (UPI) -- The wife of disgraced U.S. financier Bernie Madoff says she wants a Palm Beach County, Fla., tax refund check to be reissued in her name alone.
Ruth Madoff has sent a property tax refund check for $13,800 back to the county along with a letter asking officials to recut the check issued jointly to her and her husband, even though a deal she has made with U.S. prosecutors to repay her husband's victims specifically includes tax refunds, The Palm Beach Post reported Monday.
The check covers overpayments on the Madoffs' Palm Beach mansion, the newspaper said.
Ruth Madoff's request has aroused the ire of her husband's victims, one of whom, Ronnie Sue Ambrosino, who runs the Web site Bernardmadoffvictims.org, reportedly wrote on the site, "Do I think she should keep the $13,800? Absolutely not! Absolutely not."
Madoff won't be able to get the check reissued, Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon told the Post, saying state law requires her to write rebate checks to whoever paid the original bill, and in this case, both Madoffs' names were on the original check.
