Madoff firm former exec being forced to forfeit house

* Pleaded guilty last August to helping Madoff fraud

* Proceeds house sale go to defrauded investors

NEW YORK Feb 1 (Reuters) - Long-time Madoff right hand man Frank DiPascali and his wife are being forced to forfeit their New Jersey house and its contents to U.S. authorities, a court order said on Monday.

DiPascali is jailed pending sentencing after pleading guilty last August to 10 criminal charges for his role in helping swindler Bernard Madoff operate and conceal a multibillion dollar Ponzi scheme from market regulators.

The order was signed by Manhattan federal court Judge Richard Sullivan, a U.S. prosecutor and DiPascali's lawyer.

DiPascali had worked for Madoff's firm since 1975, rising to become chief financial officer, before the $65 billion fraud was revealed with Madoff's arrest in December 2008.

The total forfeiture judgment against DiPascali was $170.25 billion, a largely symbolic figure. Proceeds from the sale of the house and DiPascali's other belongings will be used to pay defrauded investors.

Madoff, 71, is serving a 150-year prison sentence. DiPascali, 53, had hoped to be released and return to his suburban Bridgewater, New Jersey home on bail, but Sullivan denied his requests.

The Madoff fraud bilked thousands of investors worldwide over two decades, according to prosecutors. It was a Ponzi scheme in which early investors were paid with the money of new clients.

The case is USA v Frank DiPascali, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 09-764 (Reporting by Grant McCool; editing by Andre Grenon)