Bernie Madoff's booze goes on the auction block

NEW YORK — Pair your next filet mignon with a red wine from disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's exclusive cellar.

The U.S. Marshals in the Southern District of New York announced Monday that Madoff's wine and spirit collection will be auctioned online. Proceeds of the sales are to go to his victims.

The auction is scheduled for Wednesday.

Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence for masterminding a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that robbed hundreds of victims around the world of their investments.

The online auction Wednesday was expected to raise $15,000 to $21,000, Reuters reported, with proceeds going to victims of Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

"It is an eclectic collection," Kimberly Janis of Morrell & Co Fine Wine Auction, which is conducting the auction, told Reuters. "There are some lots that are truly good wine, but there are items that aren't typical of wine collectors, and are of more interest to people looking for Bernie Madoff memorabilia."

The pickings range from a case of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, a Bordeaux from 1996, valued at more than $3,000 to mid-range wines and even a lot of the two-ounce liquor bottles sold on airplanes and in hotel mini-bars.

The U.S. Marshals have also announced that they will be holding a live auction of the contents of Madoff's former mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, on June 4.

The Marshals have previously held several auctions selling off Madoff's possessions, extravagant and mundane, in the same fashion.

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In November, an anonymous bidder paid $550,000 for a 10.5-carat diamond engagement ring that belonged to Madoff's wife, Ruth. Ruth Madoff's French diamond earrings fetched $135,000.

The man who became a symbol of greed and deceit on Wall Street also had a lavish collection of watches. One of his vintage steel Rolex "Moon Phase" watches sold for $67,500, topping a $60,000 minimum estimate.

The Manhattan sale was the last of three auctions in New York of Madoff belongings. Another was held in Florida.

In 2009, an embroidered Mets jacket in which Madoff was often pictured, sold for $14,500.

Madoff was arrested more than two years ago and quickly admitted his scheme. Investigators said he used billions of dollars in cash from new investors to pay old ones, cheating charities, celebrities and institutional investors.