What a shame!!!

[lvdkeyes]

NEW YORK (Dec. 11) - One of Bernard Madoff's sons was found dead Saturday of an apparent suicide, according to a law enforcement official.

Mark Madoff, 46, was found hanged in his apartment in Manhattan's SoHo section, according to the official. A family member notified police around 7:30 a.m.

The official spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't allowed to speak publicly about the case.

Mark Madoff and his brother, Andrew, were under investigation but hadn't faced any criminal charges in the massive Ponzi scheme that led to their father's jailing.

Bernard Madoff swindled a long list of investors out of billions of dollars and is serving a 150-year prison term in North Carolina.

The scandal put a harsh light on members of the swindler's 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.

A year ago, the court-appointed trustee trying to unravel Madoff's financial affairs sued several members of the family, including the brothers, 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.

In February, Mark Madoff's wife petitioned a court to change her last name, saying her family had gotten threats and was humiliated by the scandal.

A call to Mark Madoff's attorney and his father's attorney was not immediately returned Saturday. Calls to the FBI and U.S. Attorney's office were also not immediately returned.

[fountainhall]

I think most of us have some idea of the sort of pressures he must have been coping with in the last couple of years. I recently completed Harry Markopolos' book "No-one Would Listen". Markopolos was the one who blew the whistle on Madoff to the SEC more than a decade ago and, as the title says, no-one listened. Markopolos and others are convinced that others in the family had to be in on the fraud. There was no way Madoff alone could have handled such a massive swindle, creating and churning out fake investment reports month after month for decades. And he had so few other employees. The pressure will all be on his brother Andrew now. Either that or Bernie comes clean and reveals a great deal more to the investigators than he seems to have to date.