( CNN ) -- Bernie Madoff 's victims , who were collectively swindled out of more than $ 50 billion , effectively recouped more than $ 2 million on Saturday in an auction of the investment titan-turned-villain 's personal items . The U.S . Marshals Service sold off nearly 500 pieces of personal property belonging to Bernie and his wife Ruth Madoff in New York on Saturday morning . The money raised through the auction goes the U.S. Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Fund to compensate the victims of Madoff 's history-making fraud . `` Another chapter ( in the Madoff saga ) ended here today , '' Deputy U.S . Marshal Roland Ubaldo told CNN by e-mail . `` All 489 lots of ill-gotten gains sold today and the proceeds will go toward something good for a change . '' For months , Madoff successfully avoided detention after his arrest for engineering a sprawling Ponzi scheme , posting $ 10 million bail and cloistering himself with his wife in their $ 7 million Manhattan apartment . But he lost his freedom -- as well as access to his once vast wealth -- when he pleaded guilty in 2009 to 11 counts including money laundering and perjury . A judge , saying he had perpetrated `` extraordinarily evil '' crimes , later sentenced him to 150 years in prison . On Saturday , some of Madoff 's riches taken from his homes in New York City and Montauk , Long Island , were on the auction block . Several items went for significantly more money than had been expected in what the U.S. Marshall 's office deemed `` a very successful day . '' A 10.5-carat diamond engagement ring fetched $ 550,000 at the auction -- appreciably more than the $ 350,000 auctioneers had hoped to get . A Steinway and Sons grand piano , which had been expected to get $ 16,000 , went for $ 42,000 , while a pair of black velveteen slippers embroidered with the initials BLM in gold thread were sold for $ 6,100 , said Ubaldo . Last year , the first auction of Madoff 's property brought in more than $ 900,000 , with most items selling for prices well beyond the highest pre-sale estimates . The 71-year-old is now at the Butner Federal Correction Complex , a medium-security prison in North Carolina , and scheduled to be released on Nov. 14 , 2139 . He masqueraded his investment firm as legitimate when it was nothing more than a front . He would use the funds from new investors to send payments to his more mature investors . He would falsely portray these payments as proceeds from investments , when they were actually stolen money . CNN 's Susan Candiotti contributed to this report .
An auction of convicted scam artist Bernie Madoff 's personal items brought in over $ 2 million . The big-ticket items included an engagement ring , piano and velveteen slippers . Maddoff , 71 , admitted heading a scheme that defrauded clients out of billions of dollars .