One of Bernie Madoff's victims said it would be a good thing if the notorious fraudster publicly admitted he ripped off billions of dollars from thousands of investors. But Marcia Cohen doesn't want him to plead guilty if it means his wife and associates avoid prosecution.

Cohen, a former New York journalist and author who retired to the Santa Fe area, said it was common knowledge that Madoff and his wife, Ruth, worked closely together, and court watchers suspect Madoff will plead guilty in federal court today to protect her and others. Madoff is accused of duping investors of as much as $65 billion through a Ponzi scheme.

"I object to the protection of Ruth Madoff," Cohen said Wednesday. "I think she has set women's rights and the women's movement back 20, well, 100 years. The little wifie doesn't know? C'mon.

"Everyone knew she was his bookkeeper. Everybody in New York knows it was a status symbol to invest with Ruthie and Bernie. Ruthie and Bernie — not just Bernie."

Cohen, 78, is among about a dozen Santa Fe-area residents who lost money in the scandal. She gave Madoff her money in the late 1980s, after her accountant billed the investment as a "very low-risk," and Madoff called the fund the "capital preservation" fund. She said she invested all her money, from retirement funds to book royalties, and received monthly statements that showed a stable return on her money, often less than 10 percent. Prosecutors say Madoff actually took money from new investors to pay off older ones, a practice also known as a pyramid scheme.

The process of getting her money back remains a tangled mess, Cohen said. Lawyers are still haggling with each other and various accountants over how to proceed. Cohen also said two bills are being drafted in Congress that seek to recover the taxes victims paid on their investment earnings.

"I paid taxes on nothing, huge taxes, so that's what we're trying to get cleared up with the IRS," said Cohen, who worked as an editor at the New York Daily News and authored a 1988 book on the women's movement, The Sisterhood: The True Story of the Women Who Changed the World.

Some of the confusion comes from differing predicaments of investors. For example, Cohen said, some invested in independent retirement accounts or other funds, and some withdrew money while others didn't.

"It's a huge battle," she said.

She and other victims she communicates with online also wonder if they will see the money they invested, and whether the federal criminal court could dip into Madoff's trust funds to pay back victims.

Madoff lawyers are fighting to leave alone $70 million in assets, including $45 million in bonds, $17 million in cash and a Park Avenue penthouse, saying they belong to Ruth Madoff, The New York Times has reported.

News reports say a lot of people hope to get in line to speak at Madoff's sentencing, assuming he pleads guilty today. But Cohen doesn't want to be one of them.

"I'd slap him," she said, when asked what she might say. "I don't know. How do you speak to that kind of person? I don't have that in me. I don't have the right words. What do you say to a monster?"

Cohen said she was among the hundreds of people who attended renowned feminist Gloria Steinem's recent appearance in Santa Fe, and now is considering starting a group called Women Against Madoffs, "primarily because a lot of women have been hurt and because of this business of 'protect the little wife.' That is such a regressive thing."

Contact Doug Mattson at 986-3087 or dmattson@sfnemexican.com.