According to WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – An autopsy is planned for a man accused of making more than $7 billion off the investment schemes of jailed financial manager Bernard Madoff.
The result of the role that Picower’s charitable giving played in all of this is the amount Picower withdrew for his foundation is separate from the quarterly withdrawals for his personal accounts. During the 1995-2008 time span, Picower took out about $291 million from Madoff for the foundation account. During the same period, the foundation doled out more than $235 million in donations, according to tax forms.
Now, Jeffry Picower (PICK’-ow-er) was found by his wife Sunday at the bottom of a pool at the couple’s sprawling oceanside Palm Beach mansion. He died a short time later at a nearby hospital.
The 67-year-old was No. 371 on the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans, with a net worth of $1 billion.
Police are investigating the death as a drowning, but haven’t ruled anything out. Palm Beach County authorities planned an autopsy Monday.
Some victims of Madoff’s vast Ponzi scheme say Picower was the fraud’s biggest beneficiary. In a lawsuit to recover assets, trustee Irving Picard demands he return the allegedly bogus profits.
