Mark Madoff was found hanging from a ceiling pipe in the living room of his SoHo loft apartment on Saturday, the second anniversary of Madoff's arrest in a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that swindled thousands of investors of their life savings, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. His 2-year-old son was sleeping in the next bedroom, the officials said.
Mark Madoff, who reported his father to authorities the day after he confessed his fraud to them, has never been criminally charged in the investigation that has snared a half-dozen Madoff employees. He and his brother Andrew have said they were unaware of their father's crimes. But they have been remained under investigation and been named in multiple investor lawsuits.
Mark Madoff's lawyer, Martin Flumenbaum, said the 46-year-old had taken his own life Saturday.
The law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the death, said that Mark Madoff's wife Stephanie, who is in Florida with another son, became concerned about her husband after he sent an e-mail to her Friday night or early Saturday morning that someone should check on the 2-year-old child with him.
She asked her father to check on the home, where he found Madoff's body; the child was sleeping in a bedroom unharmed. A dog was also found in the apartment, the officials said.
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.
This is a terrible and unnecessary tragedy.
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