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Sources Implicate Madoff's Wife

While Bernie Madoff has been making headlines for his $50 billion Ponzi scheme, his wife, Ruth Madoff, has managed to avoid much of the harsh glare of the public spotlight -- until now.

CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston reports that CBS News contributor Lucinda Franks gained access to some of the posh Palm Beach, Fla. elite close to the Madoffs for a piece in The Daily Beast.com, and says she learned that Ruth may have been involved in her husband's admitted Ponzi scheme.

"Ruth Madoff has more than one face," Franks says. "One of my sources knew a woman who was bemoaning the fact that she couldn't get into Bernie's funds. ... Ruth told her, 'Call him. You can get into the fund.' So she called Bernie, and said, 'Ruth told me I should mention her name.' And Bernie said, 'You're in. How much do you want to invest?" '

Another apparent victim of Madoff's scheme: his own sister, 74-year-old sister Sondra Wiener.

"Now," Franks observes, "my sources say, she is watering plants and driving people to the airport to make ends meet."

But while Bernie supposedly swindled his sister, sources told Franks he was always loyal to his wife.

"People describe a couple that was really glued to each other," Franks points out. "They didn't golf, except with each other. They didn't eat, except with each other."

Just weeks before her husband pleaded guilty, Franks says, Ruth was hitting Palm Beach's chic boutiques on a shopping spree with five girlfriends.

"I don't think Ruth's worries are about money right now. Her husband salted away money all over the world in her name, and this is what investigators are trying to get back now."

Madoff remains in custody until his scheduled June sentencing, while Ruth's fate remains unclear, Pinkston says.

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