Finagling financier Bernie Madoff stays in his gilded cage.

A federal judge on Monday rejected the government’s request to yank Madoff from his $7 million Manhattan penthouse – and put him in jail – for violating bail conditions while awaiting trial for a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

Although he didn’t revoke Madoff’s $10million bail, Manhattan Federal Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis made sure he couldn’t unload any more assets.

Ellis also said he didn’t buy Madoff’s claim that he had no idea he was flouting a court order by shipping jewelry to relatives.

“It is highly suspect that a man as sophisticated as Madoff appears to be did not pause to consider the possible ramifications of this proposed course of action,” Ellis wrote.

“It is appropriate that his ability to transfer property be restricted as completely as possible.”

That means all of Madoff’s incoming and outgoing mail will be searched, the judge wrote in a 22-page decision.

To prevent Madoff from hiding “valuable items,” his possessions will be catalogued by a private security firm picked by the government – and inventoried every two weeks to make sure it remains in the pad, Ellis ruled.

The judge put off the new conditions for two days to give prosecutors time to appeal.

Mayor Bloomberg said he hadn’t spoken with Madoff since 1978 and would not be pinned down on whether he should be behind bars.

Likely mayoral challenger, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn/Queens), had no such qualms. He returned to Madoff’s E. 64th St. apartment Monday and demanded again that he be jailed.

Charged with the biggest financial swindle in history, Madoff is under house arrest, confined to his co-op – and wearing an electronic ankle bracelet.

The feds accused Madoff of violating his bail restrictions by mailing $1 million in baubles and heirlooms to friends and family.

Prosecutors said the holiday gifts were grounds to have his bail revoked because what’s left of Madoff’s loot will have to be returned to the investors he allegedly burned.

They said Madoff was about to mail out $173 million in checks to close pals and kin before he was arrested.

Ellis said the feds made “too great a leap” in suggesting that Madoff could secretly unload his fortune even as the judge froze the assets of his wife, Ruth.

Madoff’s lawyer, Ira Sorkin, called the gifts “an innocent mistake” and said Madoff would comply with the order.

Sorkin has argued that the 70-year-old Madoff isn’t a flight risk and shouldn’t have to trade his sumptuous spread for a spartan 7-foot jail cell.

A grand jury is investigating Madoff, whose victims include a “Who’s Who” of Jewish philanthropists who donated millions to charitable causes of all kinds in the U.S.