Bernie Madoff’s sister, husband found dead of apparent murder-suicide

The sister of convicted Wall Street Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff and her husband were found dead in Florida in what authorities said was an apparent murder-suicide, The Associated Press reported. 

The couple, identified as 87-year-old Sondra Wiener and 90-year-old Marvin Wiener, were found unresponsive in their home in Boynton Beach on Thursday, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said, according to the AP.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement that detectives from the Violent Crimes Division had arrived to the home and that further investigation indicated “it appears to be a murder/suicide.”

An official cause of death will be determined by a medical examiner, the AP reported. 

The Hill has reached out to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office for more information.

Madoff, who pleaded guilty to running the largest Ponzi scheme in history, died of natural causes in a North Carolina prison in April at the age of 82. 

Madoff was serving a 150-year prison sentence that began in 2009 after pleading guilty to fraud and other charges. 

Madoff’s Ponzi scheme lasted for decades, which prosecutors said amounted to 4,800 clients being defrauded of nearly $65 billion.

Madoff’s son Mark died by suicide two years after his father’s arrest, according to Reuters. His other son, Andrew, died from cancer in 2014, according to USA Today.

According to the Miami Herald, Madoff’s sister and husband purchased a Valencia Lakes area home in December 2009. The couple had also reportedly lost millions from Madoff’s investment scam.

The apparent murder-suicide was first reported by Boca News Now.

In a statement, a woman who identified herself as the wife of David Wiener, the couple’s son, asked for the media to give the family privacy at this time, the AP noted.

“We are not making any comment at this time,” the woman said.