Last call for Madoff's personal property

Bernard Madoff was convicted of running the largest Ponzi scheme in historyHe cheated thousands of victims out of billions of dollarsThe U.S. Marshals Service is auctioning his belongings to compensate those swindled

(CNN) -- The last of Bernie Madoff's ill-gotten gains that remain in the hands of the U.S. Marshals Service will go on the auction block next week, authorities said Friday.

A diamond watch, platinum diamond rings and artwork belonging to Madoff and his wife, Ruth, will be up for grabs on June 4, the Marshals Service said.

Proceeds from the auction will go into a U.S. Department of Justice fund and be used to compensate the victims of Madoff's Ponzi scheme, described by authorities as the largest in history. He cheated thousands of people out of billions of dollars.

Auctioneers in Miami will sell off 276 lots of property taken from the Madoff residences in New York and Palm Beach, Florida, the Marshals Service said. The auction will also be simulcast online, authorities said.

Madoff was known as an aficionado of fine watches, and the auction will include a men's Audemars Piguet watch with a diamond dial.

Other items will include an English rosewood apothecary; a carved wood bull sculpture; and a John Wootton oil painting, authorities said.

The auctioneers are also putting 262 bottles of fine wine and liquor on the block, though some of the alcohol is more valued because of the scandalous background of its owner.

"As artifacts of history they are unique, which is why we have chosen to offer all of the bottles seized, including those which normally wouldn't pass muster and make it into our auction," Morrel Wine Auctions said in a news release. "Some of the bottles are better viewed as conversation pieces rather than valued for their contents, but conversation pieces they are."

To date, about $23 million in property sales and $80 million in cash assets from the Madoffs have been recovered, the Marshals Service said.

Madoff's scheme fell apart with his arrest in December 2008, and he pleaded guilty in federal court in New York in March 2009 to multiple federal counts of running the largest, longest-running Ponzi scheme ever. He was sentenced to 150 years in prison and is serving time at a federal facility in Butner, North Carolina.

CNN

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