Investor commits suicide
Posted by Media Outrage on December 24, 2008
Long time investor Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet commited suicide Tuesday morning in his office after losing more than $1 billion of his client’s money to scammer Bernard Madoff.
Via Yahoo:
He was a distinguished investor who traced his lineage to the French aristocracy, hobnobbed with members of European high society and sailed around the world on fancy yachts.
But after losing more than $1 billion of his clients’ money to Bernard Madoff, Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet had enough. He locked the door of his Madison Avenue office and apparently swallowed sleeping pills and slashed his wrists with a box cutter, police said.
A security guard found his body Tuesday morning, next to a garbage can placed to catch the blood.
The bloody scene marked a grisly turn in the Madoff scandal in which money managers and investors were ensnared in an alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme. De la Villehuchet is believed to have lost about $1.4 billion to Madoff.
No suicide note was found, said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.
De la Villehuchet, 65, was an esteemed financier who tapped his upper-crust European connections to attract clients. It was not immediately clear how he knew Madoff or who his clients were.
He grew increasingly subdued after the Madoff scandal broke, drawing suspicion among janitors at his office Monday night when he demanded that they be out of there by 7 p.m. Less than 13 hours later, his body was found.
His death came as swindled investors began looking for ways to recoup their losses. Funds that lost big to Madoff are also facing investor lawsuits and backlash for failing to properly vet Madoff and overlooking red flags that could have steered them away. It’s not immediately known what kind of scrutiny de la Villehuchet was facing over his losses.
De la Villehuchet (pronounced veel-ou-SHAY) comes from rich French lineage, with the Magon part of his name referring to one of France’s most powerful families. The Magon name is even listed on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, a monument commissioned by Napoleon in 1806.
“He’s irreproachable,” said Bill Rapavy, who was Access International’s chief operating officer before founding his own firm in 2007.
De la Villehuchet’s firm enlisted intermediaries with links to wealthy Europeans to garner investors. Among them was Philippe Junot, a French businessman and friend who is the former husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco, and Prince Michel of Yugoslavia.
De la Villehuchet, the former chairman and chief executive of Credit Lyonnais Securities USA, was also known as a keen sailor who regularly participated in regattas and was a member of the New York Yacht Club.
He lived in an affluent suburb in Westchester County with his wife, Claudine. They have no children. There was no answer Tuesday at the family’s two-story house. Phone calls to the home and de la Villehuchet’s office went unanswered.
Mediaoutrage- That’s messed up that he had to take his life because of what that scoundrel and scam artist did. They should give Madoff Wilt Chamberlain numbers.
CrystalShine said
Dam 1 billion dollars lost I guess will make a person kill themselves. Madoff did some serious damage!
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Truly23 said
For that alone, Madoff should be placed under the jail. He doesnt
deserve a cell. Let him rot under!!
ucanb2 said
Like in the old days… place him in the dungeon!!!!
lio said
sad….tip of day..don’t put all your eggs in the same basket AND manage you’re own money.
Udamnright said
Damn he had to go and off himself? Yea Madoff should get real time cause that’s crazy.
Yea I Said It said
WOW!!! I guess he put his integrity on the line, and could’nt look in the faces of all those people whom he can’t pay back. The mind is a fragile thing, when you think you got a handle on life,turn around and something happens to test the stability of your mind-set is when you find out what seeps behind the dark interior of the brain.
The worst of this is Madoff knew for years he was a fake, now that’s a human mind I would like to dissect. Who could live day to day knowing you are stealing from people that believed in you, invested in your knowledge,trusted your insight and took your advise, and all you could do is look them in the face and lie….. Now that’s pure evil.
Helen said
Ashame.
Miss E said
Messed up!
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