Bernard Madoff’s Son Mark Found Hanged
December 11th, 2010Update
Via: Gothamist:
Yesterday morning, the body of Mark Madoff was found hanging from a dog leash in his Soho apartment, while his two-year-old son was sleeping in another room. While no note was found, it’s believed the 46-year-old son of infamous Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff committed suicide, based on desperate e-mails he sent to his lawyer and wife at 4 a.m. A Daily News source said of a message to his wife, “It basically sounded like he couldn’t take it anymore. At one point he said something like, ‘You’ll have a better life if I’m not around …I love you,'” and suggested she and their kids “would be better off without ‘this’ hanging over them all, forever. He all but said he was going to kill himself.”
According to the Post, Madoff wrote to his lawyer, “No one wants to hear the truth… Take care of my family.” Then, “In two messages sent to wife Stephanie, he said, ‘I love you” — and then alerted her to “send someone to take care of Nick,’ the source said. A freaked-out Stephanie — at Disney World in Orlando with her mom, Arlene, and 4-year-old daughter, Audrey — then dispatched her stepfather, high-powered lawyer Martin London, to the apartment in the swank building.” London was the one who made the discovery at the 158 Mercer Street apartment and called police.
A police source told the News that “Madoff – wearing khaki pants, a dark blue pullover shirt and white socks – knotted the black leash around a steel pole in a lighting rack on the living room ceiling.” The Post has a photograph of Madoff and a dog on its front page—with an enlargement of the leash—and the headline “End Of His Rope” (the Daily News’ cover is relatively classy in comparison).
—End Update—
Via: Guardian:
Mark Madoff, the eldest son of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff, has been found hanged in his downtown Manhattan apartment on the second anniversary that his father turned himself in to authorities.
His death, which was reported to the police by his father-in-law at 7.30am today, came days after he was named in a new lawsuit by the liquidators of his father’s empire.
“He was found hanged in his apartment. It was an apparent suicide,” police spokesman Paul Browne said. But authorities said he left no suicide note.
Mark Madoff and his brother, Andrew, were under investigation but had not faced any criminal charges in the $50bn (£31bn) Ponzi scheme that led to their father being jailed.
His death also came on the cutoff date for trustees looking to clawback losses from the fraud to file final lawsuits.
A dog leash? That could be a sign, kind of like, sending someone some fish wrapped in newspapers.
Or putting a horse’s head on the end of the bed. (the Godfather).