Investor burned by Madoff leaps to death from luxury hotel balcony

By Shawn Cohen, Erik Blades and Joe Tacopino
New York Post

A hedge-fund executive who lost millions in Bernie Madoff’s infamous Ponzi scheme jumped to his death from the luxury Sofitel New York Hotel on Monday afternoon, authorities said.

Charles Murphy, 56, whose fund at Fairfield Greenwich invested more than $7 billion with Madoff, leaped from a room he had rented on the 24th floor around 4:42 p.m. and landed on a fourth-floor terrace, according to police sources.

The financier was at the helm of the prestigious hedge fund when the firm poured billions into Madoff’s coffers.

Charles Murphy (Photo: Patrick McMullan)

Fairfield lost nearly $50 million when Madoff’s scam imploded, according to the Wall Street Journal (paywall).
The investors filed a class-action lawsuit and the company agreed to be part of an $80 million settlement.

Murphy owned a multimillion-dollar limestone townhouse in the heart of Lenox Hill with eight bedrooms, 11 fireplaces and two elliptical staircases, according to The Real Deal.

Murphy purchased the building on East 67th Street from Seagram heir Matthew Bronfman for $33 million in 2007. The house was previously owned by The Foundation for Depression and Manic Depression.

A person who answered the door Monday night said the family was grieving.

A parking attendant at a nearby garage said Murphy’s wife, Annabella Murphy, crashed their Honda Odyssey last summer but could not afford to fix it.

“She didn’t even have enough money to pay for the damage,” the attendant said.

Murphy had been serving as a partner with the investment management firm Paulson & Co.

The head of the fund, John Paulson, released a statement Monday night calling Murphy “a brilliant man, a great partner and a true friend.”

The incident was reported at 4:42 p.m., when witnesses said the man jumped off a balcony.

The impact of the landing shattered concrete tiles, and he could be seen lying in a business suit.
The tragedy was the third high-profile suicide connected to the Madoff Ponzi scheme.

Madoff’s eldest son, Mark, was found hanged in his Soho apartment in December 2010 — the second anniversary of his father’s arrest.

Two investors also killed themselves. William Foxton, a 65-year-old former Army major, committed suicide in 2009 due to the shame of going bankrupt.

Rene Thierry Magon De La Villehuchet, a French aristocrat, whose AIA Group had lost $1.5 billion, was found dead shortly after the scandal broke in 2008.

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http://nypost.com/2017/03/27/man-leaps-to-death-from-sofitel-hotel/

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