Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff has returned to his prison cell after being hospitalized earlier this month.

The 71-year-old Madoff returned Monday to the medium security section of the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina, spokeswoman Denise Simmons of the Federal Bureau of Prisons said on Wednesday.

Simmons declined to discuss Madoff's current health. She said he was admitted to the hospital at the prison on December 18, and treated for hypertension.

Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence after admitting to cheating thousands of investors in what prosecutors have called a $65 billion Ponzi scheme.