Madoff had $173 million in checks ready say prosecutors

By Grant McCool

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Accused swindler Bernard Madoff had signed checks totalling more than $173 million (£114 million) in his office desk ready to be sent out before his arrest, U.S. prosecutors said in court papers on Thursday asking a judge to jail him.

Prosecutors have said the checks were found by investigators searching Madoff's New York City office and that they showed the 70-year-old investment adviser wanted to move money to relatives and friends before his alleged fraud became known to authorities.

The government's written brief did not say whose names were on the checks.

One of Madoff's lawyers, Daniel Horwitz, declined to comment on the claim by prosecutors, who are asking a judge to revoke Madoff's $10 million bail and send him to jail.

A clerk for Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis of U.S. District Court in Manhattan said the judge would decide on the government's request on Friday or Monday.

In a hearing on Monday and in court papers on Wednesday, prosecutors said Madoff and his wife had mailed more than $1 million worth of jewellery and watches to friends and family in late December in violation of a December 18 court order freezing his assets. They said he was trying to disperse his assets and that he was a flight risk.

Prosecutors said Madoff's lawyers' brief to the court on Wednesday failed to mention part of the December 11 criminal complaint in which Madoff was quoted as saying he wanted to transfer $200 million to $300 million of his investors' remaining assets to selected family and friends.

"In fact, when the defendant's office desk was searched, investigators found approximately 100 signed checks totalling more than approximately $173 million, ready to be sent out," the government's brief on Thursday said, providing new information from the investigation.