Mark Madoff Found Dead Of Apparent Suicide
Filed at 2:09 p.m. EST
NEW YORK (AP) — The eldest son of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff hanged himself by a dog leash in his Manhattan apartment on Saturday, the second anniversary of his father's arrest in a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that swindled thousands of investors of their life savings, law enforcement officials said.
Mark Madoff, 46, was found hanging from a ceiling pipe in the living room of his SoHo loft apartment as his 2-year-old son slept in a nearby bedroom, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.
The law enforcement officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the death.
Madoff, who reported his father to authorities, has never been criminally charged in the biggest investment fraud in U.S. history, that has snared a half-dozen Madoff employees.
Mark Madoff and his brother Andrew have said they were unaware of their father's crimes. But they have remained under investigation and been named in multiple investor lawsuits accusing them of profiting from the scheme.
But a third law enforcement official said Saturday that Madoff's arrest was not imminent, and that investigators pursuing possible charges against him, his brother and uncle hadn't contacted him for more than a year. The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Mark Madoff killed himself on Saturday, said his lawyer, Martin Flumenbaum.
"This is a terrible and unnecessary tragedy," Flumenbaum said in a written statement. "Mark was an innocent victim of his father's monstrous crime who succumbed to two years of unrelenting pressure from false accusations and innuendo."
Mark Madoff was found by his father-in-law, after his wife, Stephanie, became concerned when he sent an e-mail to her Friday night or early Saturday morning that someone should check on their 2-year-old son, law enforcement officials said. Madoff's wife, who is at Disney World in Florida with her 4-year-old daughter, sent her father to the home, where he found Madoff's body. The toddler was found unharmed, along with a dog.
Bernard Madoff, 72, swindled a long list of investors out of billions of dollars. He admitted that he ran his scheme for at least two decades, cheating thousands of individuals, charities, celebrities and institutional investors. Losses are estimated at around $20 billion, making it the biggest investment fraud in U.S. history.
He was arrested on Dec. 11, 2008, after confessing his crimes to his family.
The scandal put a harsh light on members of the family. The financier's brother, Peter, played a prominent role in the family's company. Mark and Andrew Madoff both worked on a trading desk at the firm, on a side of the business that wasn't directly involved in the Ponzi scheme.
In February, Mark Madoff's wife petitioned a court to change her last name and the last names of their two children, saying her family had gotten threats and was humiliated by the scandal.
A year ago, the court-appointed trustee trying to unravel Madoff's financial affairs sued several relatives, including Peter, Mark and Andrew, accusing them of failing to detect the fraud while living lavish lifestyles financed with the family's ill-gotten fortune.
The lawsuit accused Mark Madoff of using $66 million he received improperly to buy luxury homes in New York City, Nantucket and Connecticut.
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Links...
The Madoff Liquidator - CBS 60 Minutes
Harry Markopolos on Madoff Fraud - CBS 60 Minutes
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The Madoff Chronicles - Vanity Fair
Did the sons know?
Friends of Mark and Andy Madoff tell Vanity Fair writer David Margolick that Andrew has called what his father did to him and his brother “a father-son betrayal of biblical proportions,” and has said that to categorize it as being blindsided would amount to the understatement of the century. But others, including Madoff alumni, don’t believe the boys could have been unaware of the scheme.
Margolick talks with their friends, surrogates, and former colleagues, and reveals that when Bernie Madoff broke the news of his Ponzi scheme to his sons, in the kitchen of his penthouse apartment, Mark was angry and Andrew was on the floor, sobbing. The spokesman for the sons tells Margolick that the fact that no one has come forward to implicate the two for involvement in the scheme is powerful proof that they weren’t involved.
Deborah, who worked for 24 years at the company and asked that her last name not be used, tells Margolick that “they wouldn’t have been able to do what Bernie did: they just didn’t have the evilness in them.” But she admits that other Madoff alumni don’t concur. “If I were to say that Mark and Andy are innocent, I’d get people looking at me like I’m absolutely nuts.”
Margolick reports that Mark is said to be obsessed with the scandal, huddled over his computer, hyper-scrutinizing every story and blog posting, and, when it suits him, answering e-mail instantaneously, but that Andrew has completely shut down. The day his father confessed to him, he skipped the office party, went home, and lay down on his bed—still in his overcoat and shoes—and stayed there for the next four hours, perfectly inert.
Dec 11, 2010 at 3:58 PM
Reader Comments (18)
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2009/06/madoff-sons.html
source...
http://dailybail.com/home/the-madoff-liquidator-cbs-60-minutes-video.html
Complete Interview Of Harry Markopolos On CBS 60 Minutes. Broadcast March 1st »
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I don't see how anyone actually in the business, especially family, could have been clueless. I'm just about heartless enough to say that a lot of the people investing their money and getting their predictable double digit return year after endless year were playing along, wink wink, as long as the good times rolled.
Oh the humanity... but still what a tragedy that his son killed himself. If Madoff has any kind of heart he has to be going bat shit crazy right now.
Either the entire family, especially those working within the firm, knew that something was not right, or they were spectacularly incompetent. Either way, they sure enjoyed the money. Look at that picture of them at dinner; one goblet for water, one for champagne, one for red wine; the more glasses at the place setting, the more expensive the restaurant. Sheesh.
But the 'victims' were not really victims; sorry, but they were all enjoying those huge, preternatural returns year after year; they were clamoring for 'Bernie' to take their money. Greed. Sometimes it bites back. And as to why Harry Markopoulos saw right through Madoff and the SEC wouldn't listen? For the same reason our 'government' and I use the word with malice aforethought, doesn't act with our best interests at stake. Paid off, every goddam fucking piece of shit of them.
Like our goverment, if I tell you its not a lye, then its not a lye. If my dad dident tell us he was Cheatting All Them Good Folks, then he wasent...................."Right" ? Its not wrong if we say its not wrong.....!
What ever goverment dose wrong to us, is "Our Fault" not thAres..... they pased the blame to us, as did Madoffs kid did. If My Dad Said "Its OK".............then its OK ?
Looks like knowing the truth caught up to him, "Ha"......! I do feel sorry for his family....
When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you.
Susan Sarandon
Here’s the top spenders over these 3 months.
$114,857.38 (Mark Madoff, son)
Mark Madoff spent $77,388.21 on 6/26/2008 at Tradewind Aviation in Oxford, CT, a premier provider of exceptional quality private aviation services, serving the U.S. and Caribbean.
Mark Madoff spent one night (1/15/2008) at the Esperanza Hotel in Santa Monica, California for a total charge of $8,400.
In a ski trip to Wyoming, Mark Madoff had a drinking tap totaling $2,879 at Pica’s Mexican Taqueria in Jackson.
It must have really sucked to have to not have his credit card.
BHO said im not a Muslim, so he Aint......! The "Ben-Ber-Nank" said im doing everything right, so he is. Hillery Clition said "I Rule the World"..........so she dose in her mind. My husband is an "Ass Hole"..........an so he is. Evan if the gurls still want to "Toot" his wistle.
DB is a Very Nice Guy, so he must be, becouse Dar said so. If I say so, it is what it is, Right......?
If ya dont get out much and you know whats going on out thAre with the goverment, you get a very bad felling in yr hart. We watch what they do to us. We hear what they tell us. We know its all a bunch of Bull-Shit.
We know its just lyes. The sad part is, is that they think in their own mind they are telling us the truth, no matter how distorted it is. & we have to put up with it becouse we have no way to change anything.
I used you in a 180* sint, to show how fucked our goverment is. NOW, They realy think they are telling us the truth, of whats going on in goverment, and how its for our best interest.......................
I know in my little brain, im telling the truth about the Steve, on the DB, that I know my shit. He is a nice guy. Unlike our goverment, everything they tell us is a bunch of Crap.
So, Dar knows his shit on the DB, plus he know anything the goverment tells us "Is Shit"......! It saddens me to know we half to just take everything the goverment hands us, no matter how much we know the real truth. If I had a real life, it wouldent bother me so much.
Im stuck on the inside 24/7, watching the world go int to the toilet, and cant get out to save ya's...................!