The building in midtown Manhattan in New York where Bernard Madoff and wife Ruth formerly owned a penthouse apartment is seen in this aerial view. The U.S. Marshals Service took possession Thursday of the $7 million Manhattan penthouse. (File / The Associated Press)

New York » Federal marshals took possession of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's $7 million Manhattan penthouse on Thursday in a move that forced his wife to move elsewhere.

Proceeds from a sale of the property and its contents could be used to help reimburse those who lost billions of dollars investing with Madoff before he confessed to running a Ponzi scheme.

U.S. Marshal Joseph Guccione said the marshals arrived at the property at noon with a court order permitting them to take custody of the apartment and to make anyone living there move out.

Guccione said Madoff's wife Ruth had been advised in advance of the marshals' plans and was leaving the residence and surrendering all personal property. "She will be leaving," he said at midday. "Restitution for the victims is the government's top priority."

Typically, the U.S. Marshals Service changes all locks and secures a property when it seizes a location.

By 1 p.m., 67-year-old Ruth Madoff had left. It was not immediately clear where she went to live. "Ruth moved out voluntarily pursuant to the prior agreements we reached with the government," said her lawyer, Peter Chavkin.

The 71-year-old Madoff was sentenced Monday to 150 years in prison. He pleaded guilty in March to charges that his investment advisory business was a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that wiped out thousands of investors and ruined charities.

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Authorities said Madoff carried out the fraud for at least two decades before confessing to his sons in December that his investment business was a fraud and he had lost as much as $50 billion.

Last week, Ruth Madoff agreed to give up all of her possessions in return for a promise that federal prosecutors would not pursue $2.5 million not tied to the fraud. The money, though, is not protected from civil legal actions that might be pursued by a court-appointed trustee liquidating Madoff's assets or by investor lawsuits.

Before she agreed on a deal with the government to resolve her finances a week ago, Ruth Madoff indicated through lawyers that she planned to try to keep the penthouse and an additional $62 million in assets as unrelated to the fraud.