Widow of Madoff Investor Speaks Out

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Exclusive: Claudine de la Villehuchet Blames Madoff for Husband's Death
Widow of Madoff Investor Speaks Out
In an exclusive interview with FOX Business, the widow of deceased feeder investor Rene-Thierry de la Villehuchet said the now-convicted Bernie Madoff was directly responsible for her husband’s death.

Claudine de la Villehuchet, speaking publicly for the first time since her husband took his own life in December, said Madoff’s deception and fraud pushed her husband to take his own life.

“I don’t want, I hated to make accusations like that, but I think (Madoff) is a murderer,” de La Villehuchet said.


While quiet and mostly-unknown here in the U.S., Thierry Rene de la Villehuchet became one of many public and tragic stories of Bernie Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Thierry was the co-founder of Access International Advisors, which was a feeder fund for many wealthy and aristocratic European families including the Rothchilds, Lauders, among others.

It is estimated that Access International lost $1.4 billion as a result of Madoff’s crime, including the De la Villehuchet’s own $50 million fortune.

De la Villehuchet said she believes her husband was completely unaware of Madoff’s scheme, and it was that guilt that drove her husband to take his own life.

“He was such an honest person that he just could not face the fact that his clients would have the feeling that he betrayed him, when in fact he was betrayed himself,” Claudine said.

Despite the magnitude and complexity of Madoff’s crime, Claudine said she believes Madoff acted alone or with only a few others. Notably, Claudine said she does not believe Madoff’s wife Ruth Madoff knew about her husband’s crime.

“I really don’t think (Ruth) knew anything,” she said. “(Madoff) orchestrated the whole thing, probably.”