Madoff Investor's Suicide Was An "Act Of Honor", Brother Says

Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet's sense of honor led the descendent of French army officers and an ennobled shipping family to commit suicide after he put his friends and family in a "catastrophic" financial situation by investing with Bernard Madoff, his brother said.

Villehuchet, 65, chief executive officer of Access International Advisors, believed that he had lost all of the funds invested with Madoff's eponymous investment firm, including the $1.4 billion LUXALPHA SICAV-American Selection managed by Access, Bertrand Magon de la Villehuchet said in an interview.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[ZimboChick]

suicide is now honourable? wow

[moonflowerjewelry]

suicide is not honorable. the honorable thing to do is to face the consequences and be accountable for actions.

[Olderandwiser55]

The real story is indeed that he was an investment ADVISOR who didn't do the due diligence and then, to make matters worse, for got to diversify assets...lazy and greedy.

[bulfinch]

Perhaps, "Bi-polar Bernie" , wizard of wall street, will wipe that smirk from his face and regain his honor also.

[loki]

I have a feeling there will be many "acts of Honor" in the next year or two. All thanks to the Bush Economy, or lack of.

[themodernleader]

Killing of a human being is the ultimate punishment. If we are to believe that terminating life ends everything, then killing is the ultimate audacity. In this respect it is an act of being God or the gods or revenge of nature over life.
Committing suicide is an act of vengence. It trades the triviality, tragedy and triumphancy of existence for meaninglessness. It is a triumphant of inert, uncaring nature over its arch enemy, conscious life. Suicide is not honor. Instead, it is denial of life. It is an act of the traitor to himself. It is the ultimate humiliation of all that is human.

[taddles]

The only thing that would be truly "honorable" would be if Madoff were gutted like a fish on live TV so the world could watch him bleed out.

[Tulka2]

Ah.... suicide as a literary device. Nineteenth century books and even old Hollywood movies often used suicide as a plot device. The gentleman would be caught and authorities left him alone with his gun in his library in the hopes he would "do the right thing". Sound of gunshot. Case closed and it saved high society the pain of seeing a gentleman's name dragged through the mud.

On the other hand... When one finds oneself in an intolerable situation, the only real way out is THROUGH. Suicide only gets you a rebirth into the same kind of situation until you learn to cope. At least this has been my experience.

[mytwosense]

Who are any of ys to throw vicious commentary stones at Mr. Villahuchet, especially those who never met him, did not work with him, and did not lose monies because of him. While those who wrote nasty comments about his suicide may handle personal and/or financial devastation differently, the man is dead. And let's just hope none of us are ever forced to walk in his shoes. The real culprit, if not true coward of this sinister and oh-so-sad story is Bernie Madoff. Not only did this poor excuse of a man lie to, cheat and steal from everyone who knew and trusted him in his sordid ponzi scheme, the fact is he did/does not have the where-with-all to live his life as a decent human being. The mean-spirited commentary here about what Mr. Villhuchet did to end his life seems ill spent. Turn the bitter text towards Madoff and leave Villahuchet to his sad demise.

[dginki]

And you need to take a look at yourself and how you think and live. People like Madoff and Villahuchet thought they were above it all. People who invested money with Madoff thought they could screw the little people and keep on moving. What goes around comes around. No group is the chosen people. All of us have a respondibility to see others as just as valuable as we are. There are groups that do not see others as less valuable you know?! I can't wait until these "groups" start eliminating themselves.

[KarateKid]

OK, Bernie, now it's your turn.

[LeeCalif]

Was not. The guy was ashamed that he simply took people's money and without due diligence,
he directly stuck into Madoff's fund.

The guy was supposed to be an expert. All he was, was lazy..

[antaeus]

Your characterization of his failures is correct, but that doesn't really undermine the thesis that his suicide could be considered an act of atonement for those failures.

[LeeCalif]

And bush invaded Iraq to retrieve WMD or was it to bring democracy or was it to stop Hussein's brutal regime or was it ....

Suicide does not make amends to these people who have lost fortunes.

[antaeus]

And how Madoff's wife and children will lead their lives going forward shall likely be something other than what could be called honorable.

[JD2774]

Maybe he should have done Madoff first before he committed suicide.

[sacrebleu]

"Act of honor" mon cul.

[TallyLass]

Since we have no real traditions in this country, we have NO idea what other people's traditions are. The greeks and other cultures commited suicide and it wasn't considered cowardly. Grow up and stop saying what you would or would not do.

Look at McCain, he was involved in the banking scandal that fleeced mostly seniors who never got their money back and probably died penniless. Didn't bother him though, he just went on to run for president twice and not know how many houses he has.

[getalong]

First of all, in those ancient cultures that you cited, suicide is wrong.
Depending on certain situations it is not.

Moreover, it was part of their religion.

This man is not an ancient pagan.

[TallyLass]

Second of all you are wrong. Chew on it!