From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, searchRené-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, also known as Thierry de la Villehuchet for short (born in Saint-Malo, France, in 1943, died in New York City, New York USA 23 December 2008) was a French aristocrat, money manager, and businessman, and one of the founders of Access International Advisors (AIA Group).
The AIA Group is a research analyst investment agency that specializes in managing hedged and structured investment portfolios that involve commercial physical and biological research.[1][2]
On 23 December 2008, de la Villehuchet reportedly committed suicide.[3] He was found dead in his company office on Madison Avenue in New York City.[4] His left wrist was slit[5] and de la Villehuchet had taken sleeping pills, in what appeared to be a suicide. Although no suicide note was found at the scene, his brother in France received a note shortly after his death in which he expressed remorse and a feeling of responsibility.[5]
Thierry de la Villehuchet lived in New Rochelle, New York, and came from a prominent French family. Before founding AIA Group, he was the chairman and CEO of Crédit Lyonnais Securities USA. He also contributed to the founding of Apollo Management, financial management firm established by financier Leon Black. He was also a member of New York Yacht Club, the Larchmont Yacht Club—a racer in the Star and Shields sailboat classes—and the St. Malo Bay Nautical Club in France.[5] He left behind a wife.
Access International had connections to wealthy and powerful aristocrats from Europe. Its funds enlisted intermediaries with links to the cream of Europe's high society to garner clients. It had invested a reported US$1.4 billion with the disgraced investor and fund manager Bernard Madoff. De la Villehuchet had also invested his personal money with Madoff's business. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) do not believe de la Villehuchet was involved personally in the US$50 billion fraudulent financial Ponzi scheme which Madoff was arrested for masterminding, on December 11. Bloomberg News reported on January 2, 2009 that the AIA funds had increased aggregate exposure to Madoff from 30% to 75% of a total US$3 billion assets in 2008, for a US$2.25 billion exposure. It also identified Philippe Junot, former husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco, and Prince Michael of Yugoslavia as partner and investor-relations executive, respectively, in the firm; and Liliane Bettencourt, the world's wealthiest woman, the 86-year-old daughter of L’Oréal founder Eugène Schueller, as an early investor. [6]
According to The New York Times, de la Villehuchet's older brother Bertrand said that René-Thierry was connected to Madoff by René-Thierry's partner in AIA, Patrick Littaye, another French banker, and that René-Thierry had not known Madoff personally. “He had a true concept of capitalism,” Bertrand de la Villehuchet, 74, said of his brother, quoted in the Times. “He felt responsible and he felt guilty. Today, in the financial world, there is no responsibility; no one wants to shoulder the blame.”[5] Bloomberg reported that Bernard had invested 20% of his assets in an AIA/Madoff fund. It also reported that René-Thierry founded Access in 1994 with Littaye, who is now 69. The two had met at Paribas in 1970.[6] In Feb. '09, Littaye denied having heard of whistleblower Harry Markopolos' accusations against Mr. Madoff in the years before the scandal broke, and said Madoff was "of course" exempted from the usual handwriting analysis (graphology) which was among the due diligence efforts AIA made with its outside fund managers.[7]
Over the last 20 years, de la Villehuchet was renovating and organizing the archives of Le Château de Plouër (a private property; pictured)[8] in Plouër-sur-Rance, Brittany, which he'd inherited from an uncle, and was nearly finished with the endeavor at the time of his death.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ AIA Group Company Web site (which went offline, but is still accessible through archive.org)
- ^ Company Profile on Manta Company profile on Manta
- ^ Thierry de la Villehuchet committing suicide New York Daily News.
- ^ Company Address
- ^ a b c d e "Madoff Investor’s Suicide Leaves Questions" by Alex Berenson and Matthew Saltmarsh, The New York Times, 2009-01-02, p. B1 New York edition.
- ^ a b "Madoff Investor’s Suicide Was an ‘Act of Honor,’ Brother Says" by Alan Katz, Bloomberg News, 2009-01-02. Retrieved on 2009-01-03.
- ^ "A Lonely Lament From a Whistle-Blower" "Mr. Markopolos Regrets His Failure to Persuade Investors; Tips for the SEC," by Gregory Zuckerman and David Gauthier-Villars, online.wsj, Feb. 3, 2009. Retrieved 3-9-09.
- ^ Chateau pictured. Plouër-sur-Rance official website
[edit] External links
- Access International Advisors LLC official web site "Page Load Error" a/o 3-9-09.
- The Daily Mail: 'Ashamed' broker who lost aristocracy £1bn in Madoff fraud dies after slashing wrists in New York office
Sunday 27 February 2011
René-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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