Legal News

What Would You Do With a Name Like Madoff?

By Ashby Jones

Seriously, though. What do you do if your last name is Madoff, but you allegedly don’t have anything to do with Bernie’s fraud?

Well, you change your name. To Morgan.

That’s right. One of Bernard Madoff’s daughters-in-law, Stephanie Madoff, says she and her children shouldn’t have to bear the burden of his name. So on Wednesday, Madoff filed court papers in Manhattan on Wednesday asking to change her last name to Morgan. She made the same request for her two children. Click here for the AP story.

Stephanie is married to Bernie’s son, Mark. She says her family has gotten threats, and she wants to drop the Madoff name to avoid “additional humiliation” and harassment.

Her lawyer declined to comment to the AP. Mark Madoff says in court papers he doesn’t object. Mark Madoff hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing, though earlier this month, Mark Madoff and his brother Andrew, agreed to certain restrictions concerning their own assets.

In other Madoff-related news, FBI agents on Thursday morning arrested Daniel Bonventre, the ex-director of operations for Madoff’s shop, as part of its an ongoing investigation. He is scheduled to appear in federal court later today, according to James Margolin, a spokesman for the FBI. Click here for the WSJ story.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 25, 2010 (boomark / email).