(Dec. 17) -- If Mark Madoff had been able to clear his name, he might still be alive.
That's the conclusion reached by his friends, anyway, who tell The New York Times that Bernie Madoff's elder son was devastated by accusations that he was involved in his father's Ponzi scheme and had struggled mightily to rebuild his life.
But in the end, it was too much. So in the hours before Madoff took his life Saturday, he published one last issue of Sonar, a financial report he'd been writing anonymously; walked his family labradoodle; and sent his wife, Stephanie, a final, brief note, according to police reports obtained by the Times.
"Please send someone to take care of Nick," he wrote, referring to the couple's 2-year-old son, who was in the apartment when Madoff hanged himself with a dog leash. "I love you." He sent his lawyer a final missive as well: "Nobody wants to believe the truth. Please take care of my family."
His friends, speaking anonymously, told the Times that Madoff -- who made millions working with his father but was never charged with criminal wrongdoing, and had turned his father in to authorities -- fell into a depression after his name made him a pariah.
Read more at The New York Times.
Report: Father's Scandal Too Much for Mark Madoff
Dec 17, 2010 – 9:47 AM
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