NEW YORK — Federal marshals took possession of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff’s $7 million Manhattan penthouse on Thursday in a move that forced his wife to move elsewhere.

Proceeds from a sale of the property and its contents could be used to help reimburse those who lost billions of dollars investing with Madoff before he confessed to running a Ponzi scheme.

U. S. Marshal Joseph Guccione said the marshals arrived at the property at noon with a court order permitting them to take custody of the apartment and to make anyone living there move out.

Guccione said Madoff’s wife Ruth had been advised in advance of the marshals’ plans and was leaving the residence and surrendering all personal property.

“She will be leaving,” he said at midday. “Restitution for the victims is the government’s top priority.”

Typically, the U. S. Marshals Service changes all locks and secures a property when it seizes a location.

By about 1 p. m., the 67-year-old Ruth Madoff had left. It was not immediately clear where she went to live.

“Ruth moved out voluntarily pursuant to the prior agreements we reached with the government,” said her laywer, Peter Chavkin.

The 71-year-old Madoff was sentenced Monday to 150 years in prison. He pleaded guilty in March to charges that his investment advisory business was a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that wiped out thousands of investors and ruined charities.