NEW YORK, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Mark Madoff, son of swindler Bernard Madoff, hanged himself in his New York apartment Saturday, the second anniversary of his father's arrest, police said.
Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne told The New York Times Madoff's father-in-law found the body hanging by its neck with a dog leash from a pipe in the living room ceiling.
"Mark Madoff took his own life today," his lawyer Martin Flumenbaum said. "This is a terrible and unnecessary tragedy."
A city official told the Times the first call, for a "possible suicide," came via 911 at 7:27 a.m. The call came from Madoff's home at 158 Mercer St. in Soho, in Lower Manhattan.
Browne said Madoff's "2-year-old son was asleep in an adjoining bedroom. Apparently, the son-in-law had indicated that someone should check on the child; had made some notification to the wife that he should check on the child."
Madoff was chatting via computer with his wife Stephanie, who was out of town, before taking his own life, sources told the New York Daily News. She became worried and called her father to check on him.
Mark Madoff and his brother, Andrew, were never charged criminally in their father's fraud but were being sued for millions by trustees for the victims.
