NEW YORK — Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff’s elder son hanged himself by a dog leash in his apartment Saturday, exactly two years after his father’s arrest in a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that swindled thousands of investors of their life savings.
Mark Madoff, 46, was found hanging from a ceiling pipe in the living room of his SoHo loft apartment while his 2-year-old son slept in a nearby bedroom, said two law enforcement officials.
Madoff, who reported his father to authorities, has never been criminally charged in the biggest investment fraud in U.S. history and has said he and his brother, Andrew, never knew of their father’s crimes. A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Mark was not facing imminent arrest and hadn’t spoken to investigators pursuing possible charges in more than a year.
But he and other Madoff relatives have remained under investigation and been named in multiple investor lawsuits accusing them of profiting from the scheme.
“This is a terrible and unnecessary tragedy,” Madoff’s attorney, Martin 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.”
A lawyer for Mark’s mother, Ruth Madoff, said: “She’s heartbroken.”
Mark Madoff’s body was discovered after his wife, Stephanie, became concerned when he sent an e-mail to her Saturday that someone should check on their 2-year-old son, said the law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the death.
Madoff’s wife, who is at Disney World in Florida with her 4-year-old daughter, sent her stepfather to the home. The toddler was found unharmed, along with a dog.
The Madoff case
Mark Madoff
Dec. 11, 2008: Bernard Madoff is arrested after telling senior employees that his investment company was “basically, a giant Ponzi scheme,” and he had “absolutely nothing.” Media reports later identified the employees as his sons, Mark and Andrew.
March 12, 2009: Bernard Madoff pleads guilty to 11 charges, including fraud, perjury and money laundering. He gets a prison sentence of 150 years.
Oct. 2, 2009: A court- appointed trustee sues Bernard Madoff’s family members in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, claiming they used the family business as a “piggy bank.”
Dec. 8, 2010: The court trustee files a lawsuit in London seeking to recover at least $80 million from the international arm of Madoff’s business. Defendants include Mark and Andrew Madoff.
