The jewellery, the boats, the minks and the pants: How fraudster Bernie Madoff’s worldly goods are finally helping the thousands he destroyed

As Jenny Crane walked into the kitchen of the stately, $8 million New York penthouse, a small blue sticky note caught her eye.

It was a message from Ruth Madoff, Bernie's wife.

"I definitely want to keep my Nespresso," it said.

Bernard Madoff masterminded the biggest investment fraud in US history, netting himself millions of dollars, and yet here was his wife, begging for a coffee machine.

Woven over four decades, the financier's sophisticated web ensnared up to 40,000 people in 136 countries - celebrities, sports stars, movie directors, a Holocaust survivor, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and thousands upon thousands of everyday folk who lives were blighted when they lost pensions, college funds, savings, money for medical bills; in short, their nest eggs.

Madoff, who died last year, was jailed for 150 years and while that brought some sense of justice to his victims, it didn't help them with their catastrophic financial losses.

Step in Jenny and the Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Management Staff taskforce.

A US federal government team and part of the Marshals Service, it was set up to recover assets used as part of a crime or bought with the proceeds of crime, sell them, and then give back the money made, to victims.

Before 1984, if you went to jail for racketeering money or laundering or plain old stealing, you got to go home after serving your time - to your penthouse and Mercedes with all your cash still in the bank.

But the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 changed all that.

If you're a kingpin, watch your back

As Jenny told the US Marshals True-Crime Podcast: "If you have ill-gotten gains as a result of an illegal activity, the government can now seek forfeiture, meaning take those items and sell them …to help reimburse victims.

"From 1984, 'forfeiture' was made part of the justice vernacular. Now, we could take away all the goodies the drug dealers and money launderers had.

"So, if you are a kingpin, the DA is looking for you, and if you bought a fleet of high-end cars with the money you have made selling the drugs, then we are going to take those cars. Or if you are driving those cars to facilitate selling all the drugs, we are taking those cars as well.

"If you use your money, and you purchase a car, a house, you have annuities, stock bonds, you have horses, you have llamas, we have the ability to seize (which is to hold on to) until the tenancy of a court case.

"Once forfeited, all title rights and interests pass to the US government - and we can sell them."

And sell them they did.

It took a team of almost 30 over many days at the Madoff Manhattan penthouse to catalogue, pack and remove every single item - and this was only one of three homes the couple owned.

Everything from jewellery and furniture to that Nespresso, socks and underpants were removed and listed for sale.

And the Madoff auction was the auction to end all auctions.

It generated a frenzy of people wanting to own a piece of criminal history.

Thousands of buyers queued outside just one of the sales in New York. Journalists from all over the world descended.

Lot Number 380 was: "Several pairs of men's socks, used, 1 pair of Prada pantyhose, 11 pairs of men's designer boxers shorts". ("Those were new, they were not used," says Jenny).

Bidding started at $955. The lot went for $1,700.

'So much conspicuous consumption'

At the apartment, the socks had been stored in a luxurious built-in closet, with cedar-lined drawers. All were monogrammed.

"There were several pairs of shoes too," says Jenny, "all within the original maker box, all the same size, all monogrammed in every colour possible.

"There was so much conspicuous consumption."

Bob Sheehan, of Gaston and Sheehan Auctioneers, who ran the sales, said: "There must have been over 200 pairs of shoes, all the same brand - a Belgian shoe.

"On the wall next to the closet, he [Madoff] actually had a schematic to show what colour shoe was on what shelf, and when he wore them and where."

The couple's clothes were replicated in all three of their homes, too.

Jenny: "It was so they didn't need to pack a bag. At every home there were a lot of shoes, a lot of socks, a lot of underwear.

"No-one needs 100 pairs of socks all reminding you of your initials!"

One lot was a leather bull footstool. The item description read: "Tail needs to be re-attached."

It went for $3,300.

A Steinway piano with an opening bid of $7,000, went for $42,000.

Bob said: "I talked to the buyer after the sale. He said he'd always wanted a Steinway and thought 'well, if I want a Steinway and I have a Steinway that was in Bernie Madoff's house that's even better'."

There was big interest from financial companies on Wall Street too.

One bought a stock certificate with no intrinsic value at all - just a piece of 8x11 inch paper with Bernie Madoff's name on it.

It sold for more than $1,000.

Lot 292, a "wooden duck decoy, with maroon head glass eyes, black body" went for $4,750.

A pair of black, embroidered slippers - which were, of course, monogrammed - went for $6,000.

A Mets jacket with Madoff's name on it fetched $14,000. The Mets were also a victim of his crimes.

On December 11, 2008, Madoff was arrested by the FBI. On March 12, 2009, he pleaded guilty to 11 federal crimes and admitted running the largest private Ponzi scheme in history.

'A beast and a monster'

The trial was covered by the world's media and in the glare of the unrelenting spotlight even Madoff's family became victims: Under the pressure of it all, his son committed suicide. His brother lost most of his possessions. There were no winners.

He was variously labelled a "beast" and a "monster" by his trusting investors.

"And these investors weren't just your big dollar money people," said Jenny, "These were your grandma and grandad retired to Florida."

Roland Yubaldo, a senior inspector with the Organised Crime and Drug Enforcement taskforce told the podcast: "He destroyed so many lives, financially, emotionally - and not just for this generation but for many to come."

And this is why, he says, asset forfeiture is such an important weapon in the law enforcement armoury.

"The use of asset forfeiture disrupts and dismantles illegal enterprises. It deprives criminals of the proceeds of illegal activity, deters crime, and it restores property back to victims," he said.

US Marshals True Crime Podcast host Chris Godsick, described the Justice Asset Forfeiture Management Staff taskforce as, a "phenomenal programme," adding, "it really seeks justice for victims in a way they usually don't get it".

Jenny went further.

"It's the best law enforcement success story out there," she said.

• Chris Godsick, creator of the US Marshals True Crime podcast, was given exclusive behind-the-scenes access to many of the largely unknown areas of the marshals' work. The extraordinary stories he uncovers are told via all major podcast providers.