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BERNIE FACES BOOT

Start packing, Bernie.

Accused Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff’s luxurious penthouse apartment – where he currently whiles away the hours under house arrest – could soon be up for sale, The Post has learned.

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Top New York real-estate brokers have been asked to visit Madoff’s tony penthouse at 133 E. 64th St., between Lexington and Park avenues, to assess its value, with an eye toward unloading it, one of the agents said yesterday.

“They want to sell it,” said the broker, who did not want to be identified.

The brokers have been invited by lawyers working for Irving Picard, the trustee appointed by a federal bankruptcy-court judge to oversee the liquidation of Madoff’s Manhattan investment firm.

Picard presumably would use any sale proceeds to help pay back, at least somewhat, Madoff’s creditors.

Because he must remain inside the two-story apartment as a condition of his $10 million bail, Madoff will be in awkward proximity to brokers when they eyeball its four bedrooms, at least five bathrooms, kitchen and library.

“They’ll probably have him in the dining room when we’re in the bedrooms and vice versa,” said the broker.

The source added that lawyers have also asked brokers for information about properties that are comparable to Madoff’s apartment that are up for sale or recently have been sold, “to assess what they’re worth.”

Madoff’s apartment could be priced at up to $8 million – a tiny drop in the bucket compared to the up to $50 billion he’s allegedly swindled from thousands of investors.

The broker noted that the value is boosted because of its location in a grand, prewar building, but also pointed out that it’s lowered by the building being very close to Lexington Avenue.

The broker said that means the apartment “is for people who couldn’t get into the Park Avenue co-ops, or for people who couldn’t afford them.”

The Post revealed yesterday that Madoff has been heard whining that the conditions of his bail have “made me a prisoner in my own house!”

A spokesmen for Picard did not return calls seeking comment.

Madoff’s criminal defense lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, said, “I have no comment on what the trustee . . . is going or intends to do.” He also said the apartment is owned by Madoff’s wife, Ruth.

Her ownership could complicate any potential sale, as could the fact that the apartment currently secures Madoff’s bail.

Also yesterday, multiple sources confirmed that Casale Associates, the private security company that has been providing around-the-clock guards at Madoff’s residence – both to prevent him from fleeing and from being killed by angry investors – is being replaced by the firm Stroz Friedberg.

The new firm is run by ex-FBI agent Ed Stroz and former federal prosecutor Eric Friedberg, both of whom have extensive expertise in computer security issues.

jeremy.olshan@nypost.com