Tweet
Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet Suicide Linked to Bernard Madoff Ponzi Fraud
By TheImproper.com
Investment fiend Bernard Madoff now has blood on his hands. French investment manager Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet was found dead Dec. 23, two days before Christmas, in his New York office. He apparently committed suicide after becoming distraught over losses he suffered in Madoff’s Ponzi investment fraud, according to police.
“Our investigative premise is that it was a suicide,” New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters. De La Villehuchet, 65, was found “with his feet propped up on his desk, a trash pail nearby to collect blood,” Kelly said. There was no immediate evidence that another person was involved or foul play.
The money manager appeared to have stabbed himself several times in his arms and wrists with a crude box cutter. Sleeping pills were found nearby, but so far police have yet to find a suicide note. Kelly said.
Too Much Pressure
Villehuchet had invested an estimated $1.4 billion of clients funds with Madoff. "(He) could not cope with the pressure following the outbreak of the scandal," a relative told a French business daily. "He took his own life, this morning, in his office in New York...This is a farewell from someone who had done nothing wrong." According to police, he did not return to his home last night in New Rochelle, a New York suburb.
De La Villehuchet was co-founder and chief executive officer of Access International Advisors, a New York firm that had invested $1.4 billion with Madoff. FBI agents arrested Madoff on Dec. 11 for allegedly running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme that fleeced dozens of victims, from major financial institutions and such luminaries as movie producer Steven Spielberg to aging widows.
Pedro Almodovar, the Spanish film director known for movies such as Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown has about $280,000 at risk, was the latest celebrity to step forward and acknowledge that he had lost money in the scheme. de la Villehuchet is the first person known to have committed suicide as a result of the swindle. He had spent the past week trying "day and night to find a way to recoup his investors' money" and that he had begun legal action in the United States against US authorities, French media reported
Giant Ponzi Scheme
He had founded Access in 1994 with Patrick Littaye, according to the firm’s web site. De La Villehuchet was chairman and chief executive of Credit Lyonnais Securities USA, the domestic investment banking arm of the French bank, according to Access marketing documents. Prior to joining Credit Lyonnais in 1987, he ran Interfinance, an international broker firm specializing in French, Belgian and Italian stock markets that he founded in 1983. Access managed $3 billion and had 26 employees according to marketing documents dated September, and one of its funds invested solely with Madoff.
Access said last week that it was working with lawyers to assess the situation. Meanwhile, lawsuits are starting to pile up in connection with the massive fraud. Fairfield Greenwich Group, a hedge fund that had $7.5 billion invested with Madoff, has been sued by investors for allegedly failing to protect their assets. A New York woman who says she lost most of her savings is seeking $7 million in damages from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Clients of Madoff had at least $36 billion with his firm, according to a Bloomberg estimate. Before his arrest, Madoff, 70, confessed to employees that his “giant Ponzi scheme” may have cost as much as $50 billion, according to an FBI complaint.
Madoff is now under house arrest at his New York apartment.
By TheImproper.com
Investment fiend Bernard Madoff now has blood on his hands. French investment manager Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet was found dead Dec. 23, two days before Christmas, in his New York office. He apparently committed suicide after becoming distraught over losses he suffered in Madoff’s Ponzi investment fraud, according to police.
“Our investigative premise is that it was a suicide,” New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters. De La Villehuchet, 65, was found “with his feet propped up on his desk, a trash pail nearby to collect blood,” Kelly said. There was no immediate evidence that another person was involved or foul play.
The money manager appeared to have stabbed himself several times in his arms and wrists with a crude box cutter. Sleeping pills were found nearby, but so far police have yet to find a suicide note. Kelly said.
Too Much Pressure
Villehuchet had invested an estimated $1.4 billion of clients funds with Madoff. "(He) could not cope with the pressure following the outbreak of the scandal," a relative told a French business daily. "He took his own life, this morning, in his office in New York...This is a farewell from someone who had done nothing wrong." According to police, he did not return to his home last night in New Rochelle, a New York suburb.
De La Villehuchet was co-founder and chief executive officer of Access International Advisors, a New York firm that had invested $1.4 billion with Madoff. FBI agents arrested Madoff on Dec. 11 for allegedly running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme that fleeced dozens of victims, from major financial institutions and such luminaries as movie producer Steven Spielberg to aging widows. Pedro Almodovar, the Spanish film director known for movies such as Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown has about $280,000 at risk, was the latest celebrity to step forward and acknowledge that he had lost money in the scheme. de la Villehuchet is the first person known to have committed suicide as a result of the swindle. He had spent the past week trying "day and night to find a way to recoup his investors' money" and that he had begun legal action in the United States against US authorities, French media reported
Giant Ponzi Scheme
He had founded Access in 1994 with Patrick Littaye, according to the firm’s web site. De La Villehuchet was chairman and chief executive of Credit Lyonnais Securities USA, the domestic investment banking arm of the French bank, according to Access marketing documents. Prior to joining Credit Lyonnais in 1987, he ran Interfinance, an international broker firm specializing in French, Belgian and Italian stock markets that he founded in 1983. Access managed $3 billion and had 26 employees according to marketing documents dated September, and one of its funds invested solely with Madoff.
Access said last week that it was working with lawyers to assess the situation. Meanwhile, lawsuits are starting to pile up in connection with the massive fraud. Fairfield Greenwich Group, a hedge fund that had $7.5 billion invested with Madoff, has been sued by investors for allegedly failing to protect their assets. A New York woman who says she lost most of her savings is seeking $7 million in damages from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Clients of Madoff had at least $36 billion with his firm, according to a Bloomberg estimate. Before his arrest, Madoff, 70, confessed to employees that his “giant Ponzi scheme” may have cost as much as $50 billion, according to an FBI complaint.
Madoff is now under house arrest at his New York apartment.