“Now you know how you have destroyed the lives of your sons by your life of deceit. Fuck you,”
That’s Mark Madoff, Bernie Madoff’s son, in writing, before he tried to kill himself with an Ambien overdose, topped off with Lorazepam, in 2009. This before his wife and best friend had to drive him to the ER, where they both – and Mark’s brother Andy – would hear the doctor recommend Mark Madoff be committed to psychiatric care in Greenwich.
Mark wasn’t successful in killing himself. At least not until a year later, when he hung himself in his New York City apartment while his wife and daughter were away.
In Nigeria, last month, Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former oil minister in Nigeria, was in the spotlight after the US government sued her for what can only be described as her sociopathic kleptocracy. The suit alleged Ms. Alison-Madueke as part of a corruption and money laundering scandal involving hundreds of millions of stolen oil dollars.
Googling around to read her news, my thoughts strangely didn’t fall primarily with her, but with her sons, Chimezie and Ugonna. Yes, I’m sure they enjoyed the private jets and champagne, but what now, having to live with the shame of their last name for the rest of their days?
What does one do when they’re a Madoff or a Madueke or some other treasonous blood-line? Do you change names? Hide out? Delete all online accounts?
I was always taught never to embarrass my parents or the family name. It would appear some parents needed a very similar lesson…