Mark David Madoff ( ; March 11, 1964 – December 11, 2010) was an American financier, best known for his role in exposing the multi-billion dollar

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to believe that profits are comin ...

committed by his father,

Bernie Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American fraudster and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, worth about $64.8 billion. He was at one time chairman of the NASDA ...

Personal life

Madoff was born and raised on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, New York, the elder of Bernard and

Ruth Madoff Ruth Madoff ( ; Alpern; born May 18, 1941) is 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. After her husband's arrest for his ...

's two sons. He earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1986. He joined 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 there. 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. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...

, where they raised two children. They divorced in 2000, and he eventually moved back to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. In 2003, he married Stephanie Mikesell, with whom he had two children, born in 2006 and 2008.

Career

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 his role in exposing the financial crimes of his father, Bernie Madoff, whose Ponzi scheme has been widely described as the most successful in history ...

(1966–2014), worked in the firm's legitimate market-making and proprietary trading arm.

Ponzi scheme scandal

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

global financial crisis Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

. He asked them to give him 24 hours to get his affairs in order, before going to the authorities. The brothers went to the authorities immediately on the advice of their lawyers, however; Bernard Madoff was arrested the next day. They 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 incredibly difficult to find employment.

Death and aftermath

On December 11, 2010, Madoff was found dead in his Manhattan apartment at 158 Mercer Street. With a dog leash tied to a beam, he had 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. Mack had claims against her for tens of millions of dollars.

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