Bernie Madoff’s longtime secretary Eleanor Squillari claims his wife, Ruth Madoff, knew about her husband’s Ponzi scheme “way before” his arrest, according to a new book about the late-banker’s family by journalist Jim Campbell. “I don’t think all these years Ruth knew, but I think she knew way before everybody else knew,” Squillari says in Madoff Talks, which comes out April 27. “They were very close.” In the book, Campbell, who spoke to the Madoffs for years, attempts to decipher how early the family might have known about his theft. According to credit cards reviewed by Campbell, Ruth Madoff had been spending $57,000 a month before the crime became public. Just before her husband’s arrest, she withdrew $10 million from one of the company’s affiliate brokerage firms. Ruth denied prior knowledge, telling Campbell: “Jim, my integrity means everything to me.”
