NEW YORK, July 1 (Reuters) - Ruth Madoff, the wife of swindler Bernard Madoff, will not face criminal charges because of a lack of evidence she knew about his fraud, two newspapers reported on Wednesday.
The New York Post and the Wall Street Journal each cited two sources familiar with the probe as saying federal investigators did not have evidence of involvement by 68-year-old Ruth Madoff in the multibillion-dollar, decades-long fraud.
Bernard Madoff, 71, was sentenced to a 150-year term of imprisonment on Monday after pleading guilty in March to orchestrating a classic Ponzi scheme in which early investors are paid with money of new clients.
A spokeswoman for the Office of the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, which prosecuted Madoff following his arrest last December, declined comment on the reports.
Ruth Madoff's lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
A law enforcement source said on Monday that 10 or more people could face criminal charges in the case over the next few months or longer, but declined to discuss who is the focus of the probe [ID: nN30439889].
Federal investigators were "closer to the beginning than the end" of the investigation into Wall Street's biggest investment fraud, the law enforcement source said.
Under an agreement with prosecutors made public on Friday night, Ruth Madoff agreed to forfeit any claims to $80 million in assets and was left with $2.5 million in cash. The deal does not rule out future criminal charges or civil charges by regulators.
Some of the defrauded investors have publicly stated their suspicions about the disgraced financier's wife of 45 years. She issued a statement after his sentencing saying she was sympathetic to those left in financial ruin.
"Like everyone else, I feel betrayed and confused," her statement said.
"To say that I feel devastated for the many whom my husband has destroyed is truly inadequate," she said. (Reporting by Grant McCool; Editing by Gary Hill)