• 23:02
  • Sunday ,12 December 2010
العربية

Bernard Madoff son 'found hanged in New York'

By-BBC

International News

00:12

Sunday ,12 December 2010

Bernard Madoff son 'found hanged in New York'

One of convicted US fraudster Bernard Madoff's sons has been found dead in New York in an apparent suicide, media reports say.

Mark Madoff, 46, was found hanged in his Manhattan apartment, a law enforcement official told AP.
Mark Madoff and his brother Andrew were being investigated in the case that saw their father jailed.
Bernard Madoff admitted last year defrauding thousands of investors through a $65bn (£41bn) Ponzi scheme.
The scheme pays out using new investors' money rather than from any profits.
Bernard Madoff, 72, is serving a 150-year prison term.
Neither of the sons has been charged.
Unravelled
The official told AP that a family member had notified police of the incident in the Soho district at around 0730 local time (1230 GMT) on Saturday.
Mark and Andrew Madoff worked on a trading desk for the family firm, in a part of the business not thought to be directly involved in the Ponzi scheme.
Mark Madoff's wife this year asked a court to allow her to change her surname, citing threats to the family.
On Friday, the trustee charged with recovering funds for the victims of Bernard Madoff's fraud filed lawsuits seeking nearly $20bn in damages.
Irving Picard has charged nearly 60 people, including a number of major banks.
The Ponzi scheme, which had been running since the early 1990s, unravelled when Bernard Madoff's investors tried to withdraw about $7bn at the height of the economic downturn. He could not produce the money.
Last month, an auction of the possessions of the disgraced financier and his wife was held in New York, raising more than $2m that will go to more than 3,000 clients who lost money through the scheme.