Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet, the CEO of a hedge fund that invested $1.4 billion with the disgraced Bernard Madoff, was found dead in his New York City office in an apparent suicide this morning. The 65 year-old was reportedly distraught over the massive losses and had been searching for a way to recoup them.

Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) — Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet, who ran a fund that invested with Bernard Madoff, was found dead at his office today in an apparent suicide, according to a police officer at the scene.

De la Villehuchet, 65, was a co-founder and chief executive officer of Access International Advisors, according to a marketing document. Access, based in New York, invested $1.4 billion with Madoff, who was arrested on Dec. 11 for allegedly running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

Police were called to the Madison Avenue office about 7:30 a.m., said New York Police spokeswoman Doris Otero. She declined to provide a cause of death.

The New York Times reports:

Authorities told DealBook that Mr. de la Villehuchet was found in his office with injuries to his arms, having apparently slit his wrists.

Mr. de la Villehuchet, 65, had been trying to recover the money that Access International raised in Europe and invested through Mr. Madoff’s business, according to La Tribune, which first reported the news, citing an unnamed source.

The AFP quotes a friend as saying:

Access (International Advisors) was his whole life, and Madoff was a manager in whom he had complete trust. I lunched with him two weeks ago and he said, how lucky it was that Madoff was the only manager still doing well at the moment.

ABC News:

A French business journal today quoted a family member of Villehuchet as saying, “for the past week, he had tried day and night to find a way to recoup his investors’ money and had begun legal action in the United States against U.S. authorities. He could not stand the hunt for culprits launched by the Europeans. This is a farewell from someone who had done nothing wrong. The truth is that everyone wanted to invest with Madoff, considered by everyone to be AAA, i.e. absolute security.”

An HSBC banker also related to the Madoff collapse was found hanging in his West London hotel room yesterday. Horrible. Hopefully family and friends who know other victims of Madoff will come to their comfort and spend time with them at this time. Let them know that they can get through this.