By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN FEDERAL COURT — Kenneth Starr's ex-Scores stripper wife may have to go back to work now that a judge has ruled the couple's assets will remain frozen for another month.
The news comes as federal prosecutors revealed that Starr's alleged Ponzi scheme was at least twice as large as originally believed — netting $59 million from investors, up from the $30 million initial figure. The number of victims grew as well, up from seven victims to 11, according to court documents.
Starr, who remains in federal custody, will be arraigned Friday after a grand jury indicted him on 20 counts of wire fraud, securities fraud, fraud by an investment adviser, and money laundering, prosecutors said.
The couple's high-powered Washington attorney Abbe Lowell, who represented President Bill Clinton during the infamous impeachment trial headed by the other Kenneth Starr, said he may ask government attorneys to release a cost of living allowance to Starr's wife, Diane Passage, and her 12-year-old son.
Starr's assets were frozen by the Securities and Exchange Commission after a they filed a lawsuit against the former financial advisor to the stars. Lowell would not say whether Passage would need to go back to work.
"Ms. Passage is going to do what she needs to do to support her son and herself," Lowell told reporters, but added, "I don't think the SEC is going to see Ms. Passage and her son starve."
"They couldn't be that heartless," he said.
The lead lawyer for the SEC on the case said the government's priority is the defrauded investors, not Passage, who they believe benefited handsomely from Starr's alleged multimillion-dollar scam.
"Ms. Passage would not be the first spouse of a fraudster to be harmed by their spouse's acts," said SEC attorney Todd Brody.
Starr was arrested on May 27 by federal agents at his $7.5 million condo on the Upper East Side, which authorities believe was purchased with the profits of his scam.
The financial manager was charged with five counts of fraud and simultaneously sued by the SEC for civil liabilities on the same allegations.
Starr has a court-appointed attorney defending him in his $30 million Ponzi scheme criminal case, while he figures out who will represent him. Lowell said he is only representing Starr in the SEC case.
Lowell said he's currently working for free because the couple's assets were frozen by the SEC.
On his clients' behalf Thursday, Lowell agreed to let their assets remain temporarily frozen until July 8 as he prepares to defend the couple and Starr's companies against a move by the government to freeze their assets permanently.
