The sister of notorious Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff and her husband were found dead in what investigators said was an apparent murder-suicide in Florida, The Associated Press reported.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office on Sunday identified the couple as 87-year-old Sondra Wiener of Boynton Beach and her 90-year-old husband, Marvin. They were found unresponsive with gunshot wounds Thursday afternoon inside their residence.
“Detectives from the Violent Crimes Division arrived on scene to investigate further. After further investigation it appears to be a murder/suicide,” the Sheriff's Office statement said.
Officials said the cause of death will be determined by the Medical Examiner’s Office.
A woman who identified herself as the wife of son David Wiener asked for privacy “at this time of grief.”
Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, estimated to have begun as early as the 1980s, destroyed or crippled the finances of many individuals and charitable organizations worldwide. Many prominent Jewish nonprofits also suffered big losses, with Yeshiva University taking a $140 million hit, Hadassah $90 million and Elie Wiesel’s foundation losing $15 million.
Madoff remained an advisor to a multitude of stars and well-connected members of the American-Jewish community, right up until his arrest in December 2008 and the collapse of his scheme.
He was later sent to a 150-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2009 of orchestrating the scheme.
Madoff died last year in federal prison from natural causes at the age of 82.
In 2019, Madoff asked then-US President Donald Trump to commute his sentence. Trump never responded to the request. In 2020, Madoff's lawyers wrote a letter to a US federal judge in which they petitioned for Madoff’s early release, saying Madoff suffered from "terminal kidney disease, among other serious medical conditions."
The petition for an early release was rejected based on the severity of Madoff's crimes.