Andrew Madoff, 48, son of Ponzi scheme financier

Andrew H. Madoff, 48, who reported to authorities that his father and longtime Wall Street colleague, Bernard L. Madoff, had masterminded perhaps the largest Ponzi scheme in history, a multibillion-dollar crime that Andrew described as a "father-son betrayal of biblical proportions," died Tuesday of mantle cell lymphoma at a hospital in New York City, said his attorney, Martin Flumenbaum. Mr. Madoff was diagnosed in 2003 with lymphoma and suffered a relapse a decade later.

Mr. Madoff was the only surviving child of the former Ruth Alpern and Bernard Madoff, a once-revered financier who is serving a 150-year sentence in federal prison in North Carolina for felonies including securities fraud and money-laundering.

Their elder son, Mark Madoff, hanged himself on Dec. 11, 2010, exactly two years after his father's arrest. Mark and Andrew had turned their father in to officials after a tearful confession in which he revealed that his business was "all just one big lie."

Like Mark, Andrew Madoff spent nearly his entire career at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, a family-run powerhouse headquartered in Manhattan's Lipstick building. Both sons rose to top executive ranks but steadfastly denied involvement in the scheme that their father conducted - with an unresolved degree of assistance - alongside the legitimate trading business.

Bernard Madoff's clients included filmmaker Steven Spielberg, Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, retirees and other private investors, and banks, universities and charities.

Bernard Madoff took their money and, for years, reported returns that were gainful, reliable, and fake. The scheme collapsed amid the financial crisis of 2008, when his clients began requesting the withdrawal of funds that he could not provide. By the end, he had taken an estimated $20 billion in principal investments.

Andrew Madoff publicly repudiated his father after the revelations. Despite his efforts to distance himself from his father's actions, he became entangled in their consequences.

Andrew Madoff was not criminally charged but was the target of civil lawsuits by Irving H. Picard, the court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of the Madoff firm and the compensation of victims. In July, amending earlier claims, Picard filed to recover $153 million that Andrew and Mark Madoff had allegedly received through improper loans and other means.

The suit charged that the brothers had known of their father's fraud and that they had deleted or altered records during an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. A lawyer for Andrew and his late brother's estate described the allegations as "unfounded."

Andrew Howard Madoff grew up in the Long Island community of Roslyn. He graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1988.

After his father's confession, the Madoff family fell apart. Andrew was separated from his first wife before she filed for divorce on the day of her father-in-law's arrest.

Andrew said that for two years he rarely spoke to his mother, whom he blamed for appearing to stand by his father. He said that they restored contact after his brother's suicide.