Madoff's Mercedes station wagon up for auction

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Mercedes-Benz car once belonging to epic swindler Bernard Madoff will be sold at auction this week, U.S. authorities said on Wednesday.

The 2001 Mercedes E320 black station wagon will be offered on Friday with dozens of other vehicles to be auctioned by the U.S. Marshals Service, which announced earlier that Madoff's New York City penthouse also will go on sale this week.

Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence for a $65 billion fraud. Proceeds from auctions of his possessions, including the recent $9.41 million sale of a beach house with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean, will go toward reimbursing his victims.

The black Mercedes, which has 41,000 miles on it, has a suggested value of $14,000 in excellent condition, according to car pricing service Kelley Blue Book.

Another vehicle that belonged to Bayou Group founder Samuel Israel, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for bilking investors out of $450 million, also will be offered for sale.

"We are looking for maximum gains on both these vehicles to give back to the victims who have lost so much during these crimes," said Roland Ubaldo of the U.S. Marshals Service.

The auto auction, to be held in East Brunswick, New Jersey, will be open for a public viewing on Thursday.

Madoff's penthouse, a seven-room duplex with wrap-around terrace on Manhattan's affluent East Side, is expected to fetch $8 million to $10 million.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Cynthia Osterman)