Madoff in federal court in NYC for bail hearing

Bernard Madoff is escorted from Federal Court in New York January 5, 2009.(Agencies)

Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff leaves U.S. District Court in Manhattan after a bail hearing in New York, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. Prosecutors on Monday said Madoff violated bail conditions by mailing about $1 million worth of jewelry and other assets to relatives and should be jailed without bail.(Agencies)

Allan Goldstein, a retiree and investor with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, testifies before the House Committee on Financial Services, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Agencies)

Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff, center, leaves U.S. District Court in Manhattan escorted by U.S. Marshals after a bail hearing in New York, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. Prosecutors on Monday said Madoff violated bail conditions by mailing about $1 million worth of jewelry and other assets to relatives and should be jailed without bail.(Agencies)

NEW YORK – Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff is in federal court in Manhattan awaiting a bail hearing.

A hearing was scheduled Monday afternoon for the 70-year-old Madoff, who is accused of duping investors out of as much as $50 billion in a giant Ponzi scheme.

Madoff has been under house arrest in his Manhattan apartment under an earlier bail agreement. He also owns yachts and mansions in New York's Hamptons and Palm Beach, Fla.

The former Nasdaq stock market chairman was arrested Dec. 11 on securities fraud charges after the FBI said he confessed that his private investment business was a fraud.

(Agencies)