Madoff associate found dead

The Picowers

Jeffrey Picower’s foundation, a major Jewish philanthropy, was one of the first to fold after Bernard Madoff was arrested last December. A former lawyer who extracted billions from the Madoff pyramid scheme, Picower had been under criminal investigation. Sunday, he was found dead at the bottom of his pool:

In a statement, the Palm Beach Police Department said Picower was found at the bottom of his Palm Beach home’s pool Sunday afternoon by his wife and could not be revived by Palm Beach fire rescue workers. Picower was transported to Good Samaritan Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at about 1:30 p.m.

The police department said it is conducting an investigation into Mr. Picower’s death, as is standard operating procedure in any drowning. The residence has been secured and detectives remain on the scene at this time.

An operator at Good Samaritan said the hospital wouldn’t be making any statements.

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