Death In The Madoff Case

Wednesday's Wall Street Journal carried the now-widespread news of Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet's suicide.

The French banker was bereft at the losses of his and his clients money in Madoff's scheme.

It's a sad thing, to be sure. But here's what I don't understand.

Villehuchet was said to be working non-stop on 'recovering' funds from the fraudulent investment scheme.

Just how did he plan to do that, when everyone with a brain knows that nobody will be getting any recovery anytime soon. And, if anything, it appears that, due to legal precedent, any investors who withdrew funds in the past six years may be required to return that money as having been fraudulently conveyed.

You could be doing all the work you wanted on trying to get some money returned, but you're not going to be successful.

More likely, the banker was simply overcome with dread at the realization that he had lost $1.5B of blue-chip client, and his own, money in Madoff's fraud.