It’s a far cry from their posh Park Avenue pad, but the modest one-bedroom Battery Park City apartment that Ponzi scammer Peter Madoff just moved into is way better than his next home — an 8-by-6 cell in upstate Otisville federal penitentiary.
The brother of imprisoned-for-life fraudster Bernard Madoff and his wife, Marion, have downsized as he prepares to go to prison next month for a decade-long sentence.
Their new digs are in the Liberty House on Rector Place where sources said they signed a lease for a $3,200-a-month, 710-square-foot, three-room apartment.
Madoff, whose prison term was put off for a month so he could attend his granddaughter’s lavish bat mitzvah in Manhattan over the weekend, moved into the apartment late last month.
The listing for this “perfect one-bedroom” apartment called it “contemporary and stylish,” with an open kitchen, acrylic cabinets, stainless steel appliances, wide oak plank flooring, custom shelves in the closets and “halogen soft lighting.”
The one-and-a-half bathrooms “are nothing short of amazing,” according to the listing, citing their “combination of white Thassos and Grazzini tilings, custom-designed mirrors, Kohler fixtures” — a far cry from the stainless steel toilet and sink Madoff will likely have to share with a roommate in the medium security prison.
The Madoffs were forced to vacate the Park Avenue apartment — replete with professional kitchen and maid quarters — on the heels of his guilty plea. It was sold for $4.6 million last year.
That money is being put towards making a dent in the stunning $143 billion forfeiture Peter Madoff agreed to, as will funds from the sale of the couple’s Palm Beach, Fla., home and the eventual sale of their Long Island mansion.
Their daughter, Shana Madoff Swanson, who worked as a compliance officer at her uncle Bernie’s firm, sold her $2.26 million Hamptons weekend home to go toward her dad’s forfeiture agreement.
Shana ia currently is offering her services as a trainer of Ashanta Yoga.
When a reporter asked Peter Madoff how he was enjoying his new home — however briefly given his Feb. 6 prison surrender date — he refused to answer.
Toting a newspaper, and wearing jeans and a dark blue jacket with its collar turned up, Madoff kept his head down and walked straight into the building.
Madoff, 67, pleaded guilty last June to federal charges related to his brother Bernie’s multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme that swindled thousands of customers of his Manhattan investment firm. Peter Madoff admitted falsifying business records that abetted the epic fraud, although he claims he had no idea that Bernie — who is serving a 150-year prison sentence — was ripping off trusting clients for decades.
Marion Madoff was allowed to keep $771,733.
When she and Peter went back to their Park Avenue apartment last month to collect some belongings, federal authorities refused to let them take most of the couple’s basic living items, such as dishes.
“Everything she had was the best,” a source said. “These weren’t Wal-Mart dishes. They weren’t even every day dishes you can buy at Bloomingdale’s. They were really fancy dishes.”
Additional Reporting by Chuck Bennett