Bernie Madoff's son, Mark, found dead

 

Bernard Madoff’s son Mark was found dead in the living room of his SoHo

apartment this morning, hanging from a black dog leash in the two-year anniversary of his father's stunning downfall officials said. 

 

Officers were called to 158 Mercer St. around 7:30 a.m. after Mark’s father-in-law reported the grisly find — the younger Madoff, 46, hanging fully clothed from a black dog leash attached to a pipe in the apartment ceiling, police said.

His 2-year-old son was sleeping in a nearby bedroom and was unharmed, as was Grouper, their labradoodle.

An ambulance sits outside of Mark Madoff's apartment building at 158 Mercer St. this morning.

"It’s a terrible and unnecessary tragedy," said Mark Madoff’s lawyer, Martin Flumenbaum.

"Mark was an innocent victim of his father’s monstrous crime who succumbed to two years of unrelenting pressure from false accusations and innuendo."

The eldest son of Bernie, Mark was "upset" over the one-year anniversary media coverage of his father’s massive fraud, a source said, including a front page story in today's Wall Street Journal.

The source said he penned two eerie emails — one telling his wife, who was is currently in Florida: "I love you," the source said.

The other urged to "send someone over to take care of" the couple’s toddler son, the source said.

A freaked out Stephanie then dispatched her dad, high-powered lawyer Martin London, to the family’s apartment, where he made the grisly discovery, said police sources.

No note was found with his body, the sources noted.

Yesterday, Madoff dropped off an early Christmas gift to Mercer Parking garage attendant Anthony Diaz, 37 – a festive card with $400 and a handwritten message to five attendants who parked his black 2008 Land Rover.

"He’d do it every year, but this year he did it early," Diaz said. ‘He’d give it to us around the 20th. I thought he gave it to us early because he was going on vacation."

They took the card – decorated with three penguins – down from the wall this morning.Tomorrow is the two-year anniversary of Bernard Madoff’s arrest. He’s now serving a 150-year prison sentence over his $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

Mark Madoff was "unalterably bitter" over his father’s decades-long deception, a spokesman told the Wall Street Journal recently.

He and his brother, Andrew, were sued this week by Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee recovering assets for the Bernard Madoff’s victims.

The two brothers were brokers in their father’s firm, and have said repeatedly they didn’t know of their father’s crimes.

Midnight tonight is the deadline for Irving Picard, the trustee assigned to recover assets for the victims of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, to file any lawsuits to try and claw back funds that can be distributed among Madoff’s victims.

"This is a tragic development and my sympathy goes out to Mark Madoff’s family," Picard said in a statement today.

Yesterday, Picard filed blockbuster civil suits in Manhattan bankruptcy court seeking $19.6 billion in damages. Picard’s latest suit focused on Austrian banker Sonja Kohn, who is accused of funneling money to feed Madoff’s Ponzi machine in Europe. Kohn had portrayed herself as a victim of Madoff’s thefts.

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