Thaindian News

New York, Dec 14 (ANI): Ponzi king Bernie Madoff will not attend his son Mark’s funeral.

Instead Bernie, who is serving a 150-year prison sentence at a federal prison in North Carolina, will mourn privately in his prison cell, reveals his lawyer.

“Mr. Madoff will not be attending the funeral out of consideration for his daughter-in-law’s and grandchildren’s privacy,” the New York Daily News quoted attorney Ira Lee Sorkin as saying.

“He will be conducting a private service where he is presently incarcerated,” Sorkin said.

His eldest son, Mark, committed suicide early Saturday on the two-year anniversary of his father’s arrest for perpetrating the largest Ponzi scheme in American history.

Funeral details were unclear late Monday as the 46-year-old investment banker’s body remained unclaimed at the city medical examiner’s office.

It also remains unclear whether Mark’s mother Ruth - with whom he and his brother cut off contact after their father admitted running the epic scam - would be asked to attend.

“It sounds like it is very much up in the air. I can’t imagine her not wanting be at her son’s funeral,” said Madoff biographer Jerry Oppenheimer.

Ruth has been living in Florida, spending time with her sister, Joan Roman.

Roman’s husband, Robert, reacted angrily when reached by phone Monday.

“Have you read the press over the past two years? That’s what put Mark Madoff in his grave.If you think anyone in this family is going to talk after what my nephew went through, you are out of your mind,” he said.

Whether Bernie Madoff had actually sought permission to attend a funeral service was unclear. The Bureau of Prisons would not comment on whether Madoff had asked for permission to attend the funeral. (ANI)