Mark David Madoff ( ; March 11, 1964 – December 11, 2010) was an American financier who alongside his brother was a contributor in the multi-billion dollar

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...

committed by his father,

Bernie Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American financial criminal and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest known Ponzi scheme in history, worth an estimated $65 billion. He was at one time ...

Personal life

Madoff was born and raised on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, New York, the elder son of Bernard and

Ruth Madoff Ruth Madoff ( ; Alpern; born May 18, 1941) is an American former bookkeeper and the widow of Bernie Madoff, the convicted American financial fraudster who served a prison sentence for a criminal financial scheme until his death in April 2021. A ...

's two sons. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

in 1986, where he had been a member of the

Sigma Alpha Mu Sigma Alpha Mu (), commonly known as Sammy, is a college fraternity founded at the City College of New York in 1909. Though initially founded as a Jewish organization, the fraternity dropped its religious affiliation and became open to men of a ...

fraternity. He married his college girlfriend, Susan Elkin, and moved to

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...

, where they raised two children. They divorced in 2000, and he eventually moved back to Manhattan. In 2003, he married Stephanie Mikesell, with whom he had two children, born in 2006 and 2008.

Career and investment scandal

Madoff joined his father's company in 1987. He and his brother,

Andrew Madoff Andrew Madoff ( ; April 8, 1966 – September 3, 2014) was an American financier best known for, alongside his brother, exposing the financial crimes of his father, Bernie Madoff, whose Ponzi scheme has been widely described as the largest and mo ...

(1966–2014), managed the firm's legitimate market-making and proprietary trading arm. In December 2008, Mark and his brother confronted their father over his plans to distribute hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to employees months ahead of schedule. The elder Madoff then confessed to them that his business was based on a "big lie", a long-running Ponzi scheme that was collapsing under the then-ongoing

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

. He asked them to give him 24 hours to get his affairs in order before going to the authorities; however, the brothers went to the authorities immediately on the advice of their lawyers. Bernard Madoff was arrested the next day, and Mark never spoke with him again. While no criminal charges were filed against Mark Madoff, the scandal and its aftermath proved devastating to his personal and professional life. Mark, his mother and his brother were all the subject of constant media attention, with articles speculating that they had been involved in their father's crime, or at least were aware of it. He also found it extremely difficult to find employment.

Death and aftermath

On December 11, 2010, Madoff was found dead in his Manhattan apartment at 158 Mercer Street. Using a dog leash tied to a beam, he hanged himself from the ceiling. His suicide occurred on the second anniversary of his father's arrest. Madoff's estate amounted to $18.6 million. In 2012, his ex-wife, Susan Elkin, and widow, Stephanie Mack, were sued by

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, the trustee for his father's swindled clients, under a claim they should have known their wealth was based on crime. In 2017, the lawsuit concluded, and Mark Madoff's estate was left with $1.75 million.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madoff, Mark 1964 births 2010 deaths 2010 suicides American financiers Madoff family Suicides by hanging in New York City People from Long Island University of Michigan alumni 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews