NEW YORK (AP) -- The founder of an investment fund that lost $1.4 billion with Bernard Madoff was discovered dead Tuesday after committing suicide at his Madison Avenue office, marking a grim turn in a scandal that has left investors around the world in financial ruin.
Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, 65, was found sitting at his desk at about 8 a.m. with both wrists slashed, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said. A box cutter was found on the floor along with a bottle of sleeping pills on his desk. No suicide note was found.
De la Villehuchet was one of several fund managers to be hit hard in Madoff's alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Investment funds that lost big to Madoff are also facing backlash and investor lawsuits for not protecting their clients from the alleged fraud.
Are there any words left to say about Madoff? How many more Madoffs are there out there?
Reuters: French executive whose fund reportedly lost large sums it invested with Wall Street adviser Bernard Madoff was found dead in New York City, police said on Tuesday.
It appeared "highly likely" that he committed suicide, said a source familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity. A French newspaper also said he killed himself.
Madoff is the Wall Street fund manager who authorities say confessed to running a $50 billion fraud that may have ensnared investors and charities around the world.
