Suicide investor also lost his family's fortune

The French financier who killed himself after losing more than $1 billion of his clients' investments to Bernard L. Madoff's alleged fraud also saw his own family's money disappear, his older brother said yesterday.

Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet and his business partner Patrick Littaye were "totally ruined," Bertrand Magon de la Villehuchet said in a telephone interview from his home in Paris.

Separately, it was announced yesterday that Madoff was ordered to reveal his assets to U.S. regulators by Dec. 31. He must provide a detailed list of all investments, loans, lines of credit, business interests, brokerage accounts and other holdings to the Securities and Exchange Commission by New Year's Eve, a federal judge in New York ruled. The order was issued last week.

Madoff's foreign business units were given until Jan. 26 to provide a similar accounting.

Bertrand Magon de la Villehuchet, 74, said his brother had "invested his own fortune" with Madoff along with money from friends and family.

Rene-Thierry, 65, was found dead at his desk in the New York office of Access International Advisors on Tuesday, both of his wrists slashed. A box cutter and a bottle of sleeping pills lay nearby. Police say it was a suicide.

Rene-Thierry had begun investing with Madoff three or four years ago and had a total of $1.4 billion invested with him when the scandal came crashing down this month, his brother said.

"At first he thought he'd be able to get the money back. He was very determined. Gradually he realized he wouldn't be able to," Bertrand said. "He trusted Madoff completely."

Madoff, 70, was arrested Dec. 11 and allegedly told FBI agents he had masterminded a $50 billion Ponzi scheme that ensnared investors far and wide, from retirees to charities to the International Olympic Committee.

Rene-Thierry's fund was among the biggest losers in the scheme, and one of a handful to get taken for more than $1 billion.

Bertrand said he would be joining class-action lawsuits against Madoff and the SEC.

Rene-Thierry raised the funds placed with Madoff from friends and family. Bertrand said he lost 20 percent of his own money in the scam.

The Magon de la Villehuchet family built its fortune in shipping during the 17th century, according to Georges le Gorgeu, a historian in Plouer-sur-Rance, where the family has owned a chateau for several hundred years.