Thread: Bernie Madoff's son Mark hangs himself with karma

The son of disgraced Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff hung himself with a dog leash on the second anniversary of his dad's arrest in the stunning $65 billion ripoff, sources said Saturday.

Mark Madoff, 46, was discovered hanging from a pipe inside his luxurious Mercer St. home in Soho around 7:30 a.m. by his father-in-law, who immediately called 911, the sources indicated.

His two-year-old son was asleep in another room, sources said.

Mark Madoff was chatting via computer with his wife Stephanie, who is out of town, before taking his own life, sources said.

She became worried and called her father to check on her husband.

Mark Madoff joined his father's crooked business in 1986 and is a defendant in numerous civil suits, but he had not been charged criminally.

A law enforcement source said Mark Madoff was becoming increasingly concerned that would change.

"The son knew he was in the cross hairs," the source said. "At first he thought he would somehow skate, but once \[the trustee recovering assets for investors\] detailed the family theft, he knew his time was limited."

The apparent suicide came on the two-year anniversary of Bernie Madoff's arrest. His breathtaking fraud was brought to light after his sons, devastated by their father's betrayal, went to authorities.

Madoff confessed the staggering scheme to Mark and brother Andrew, creating a family schism that never healed. Neither has spoken to their jailed father or their mother, Ruth, in two years.

Mark Madoff's wife even petitioned to change her last name - and the last names of her children - because of the humiliation and threats that followed the massive scandal.

Mark Madoff didn't opposed the change of his family's name to the Morgans, although he remained a Madoff.

In a lawsuit last year, Irving Picard, the trustee recovering funds for Madoff's investors, his brother Andrew and their uncle Peter, accusing the family of financing their lifestyles with nearly $200 million in ill-gotten funds.

The lawsuit accused Mark Madoff of using $66 million to purchase homes in Manhattan, Nantucket and Greenwich, Connecticut.

He was reportedly paid "astronomical compensation" between 2001 and 2008 - including $29 million in salary and bonuses of $4.8 million in 2006, and more than $9 million in 2007.

The Madoff money "paid for all aspects of his lavish lifestyle from the purchases of his high-end homes to the mattress and box spring he slept on, the television he watched in his home gym, and the outdoor shower in his home," the lawsuit charged.

But neither brother was ever criminally charged in the fiscal shenanigans at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, which left hundreds of investors destitute and distraught.

The brothers insisted they were unaware of the scam.

Mark Madoff tried unsuccessfully to find work as a trader in the months after the scandal, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. He was currently developing new applications for iPads.

Bernie Madoff, arrested on Dec. 11, 2009, is serving a 150-year federal prison sentence in a North Carolina.

With Alison Gendar and Henrick Karoliszyn



Read more: Mark Madoff, son of Bernie Madoff, hangs himself with dog leash in SoHo apartment, sources say

The part that get's me is; "his two year old son was asleep in the next room". Having a son close to that age makes me feel sad for the kid.