Madoff's Son Found Dead in Apparent Suicide

The son of jailed conman Bernie Madoff has been found hanged in an apparent suicide at his New York home.

Mark Madoff, 46, who had been a key official in his father's investment firm, was discovered in his Manhattan apartment early Saturday morning (11Dec10) - the second anniversary of his dad's arrest.

His lawyer Martin Flumenbaum tells Reuters, "Mark Madoff took his own life today. This is a terrible and unnecessary tragedy. "Mark was an innocent victim of his father's monstrous crime who succumbed to two years of unrelenting pressure from false accusations and innuendo".

Bernie Madoff was jailed for 150 years in June, 2009 after pleading guilty to siphoning billions of dollars from his wealthy clients, including Kevin Bacon, John Malkovich and Zsa Zsa Gabor.