Madoffs Attempted Suicide After Confession

The Takeaway

Ruth Madoff, wife of disgraced  financier Bernard L. Madoff, says the couple attempted suicide on Christmas Eve 2008, shortly after he confessed to running the largest Ponzi scheme in history.  “We were both so saddened by everything that had happened,” Ruth Madoff said in an interview with  The New York Times.  “It was unthinkable to me: hate mail, phone calls, lawyers.” Diana Henriques, reporter for The New York Times  and author of the Madoff book, “The Wizard of Lies,” interviewed Ruth Madoff, and tells The Takeaway what they discussed. The information about the suicide attempt was first reported Wednesday evening by CBS News. An article based on Mrs. Madoff’s entire interview with The Times will appear on the paper’s website Sunday evening. The interview was granted in exchange for an agreement not to publish the full report until then.

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.