Mark Madoff

New York, Dec. 11 (Reuters): Mark Madoff, the elder son of convicted swindler Bernard Madoff, was found hanged in his New York city apartment in an apparent suicide, police and his lawyer said today.

Mark Madoff, 46, was found dead on the two-year anniversary of the arrest of his father. Bernard Madoff, 72, is now serving 150 years in prison after confessing to running a decades-long Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of billions.

“Mark Madoff took his own life today. This is a terrible and unnecessary tragedy,” Martin Flumenbaum, a lawyer for Mark Madoff and his younger brother, Andrew, said in a statement. “Mark was an innocent victim of his father’s monstrous crime who succumbed to two years of unrelenting pressure from false accusations and innuendo.”

Outside the upscale apartment building in the SoHo neighbourhood, police kept a television cameras and reporters across the street.

The Madoff sons and other family members had worked for their father's financial firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, which crumbled when the Ponzi scheme was revealed.

Defrauded Madoff investors have long viewed the swindler's sons, wife and other family members suspiciously, arguing it is unfathomable that they could not have known about Bernard Madoff's lies.

Court-appointed trustee Irving Picard, who is trying to recover money for defrauded investors of Bernard Madoff, has sued the Madoff sons, brother, wife and a niece, saying they should have known about the $65 billion fraud and must return money.

Earlier this week, the trustee sued five Madoff grandchildren for millions purportedly transferred to them.

No family members have been criminally charged in the case and they reject accusations that they were aware of the fraud.

The Wall Street Journal reported in February that Bernard Madoff's sons and brother were the subject of criminal tax-fraud probes by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. No charges have been brought.

Mark Madoff had been distraught over speculation of criminal charges, said a person familiar with activities but who was not authorized to speak publicly about him. There had been no indication that any charges were imminent, the source said.

In the past two years, Mark Madoff has not spoken with either of his parents, the source said. The person said that Mark Madoff has tried unsuccessfully to get a Wall Street trading job in the wake of his father's arrest.

The case against Bernard Madoff, which shook investors around the world and sparked criticism of market regulators for failing to catch him despite warnings and tips over many years, began with his arrest on Dec. 11, 2008.

When he was arrested, Bernard Madoff told authorities that he confessed to his sons a day earlier to running a giant Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme is one in which early investors are paid with money of new ones.

Madoff has insisted he acted alone. Since his confession, seven other people have been arrested in the case, including several of his long-time employees and an outside accountant. (Reporting by Dan Trotta, Chris Michaud and Martha Graybow; Editing by Jackie Frank)