Ruth Madoff Gets Passport Back from Feds

NEW YORK (AP) -- If Ruth Madoff wants to escape public scorn, she is now free to leave the country.

Photo Gallery: Players in the Madoff Scandal | Madoff Sentencing

A federal judge on Monday ordered the court system to return Madoff's passport.

She had given up the document last December when she posted bail for her husband, Bernard Madoff.

He's now serving a 150-year prison term for a giant Ponzi scheme.

Ruth Madoff has not been charged, but she has been forced to give up all but $2.5 million of her family's personal fortune.

The confiscated assets included her penthouse apartment in Manhattan.

TM & Copyright 2009 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO & EYE Logo TM & Copyright 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. TheAssociated Press contributed to this report.

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