René-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet
Encyclopedia
René-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
) 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.
On 23 December 2008, de la Villehuchet reportedly committed suicide. He was found dead in his company office on Madison Avenue in New York City
. His left wrist
was slit
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.
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. 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.
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.” 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. 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.
Over the last 20 years, de la Villehuchet was renovating and organizing the archives of Le Château de Plouër 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.
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo is a walled port city in Brittany in northwestern France on the English Channel. It is a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine.-Demographics:The population can increase to up to 200,000 in the summer tourist season...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, in 1943, died in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) was a French aristocrat
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
, 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.
On 23 December 2008, de la Villehuchet reportedly committed suicide. He was found dead in his company office on Madison Avenue in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. His left wrist
Wrist
In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as 1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand;...
was slit
Exsanguination
Exsanguination is the fatal process of hypovolemia , to a degree sufficient enough to cause death. One does not have to lose literally all of one's blood to cause death...
and de la Villehuchet had taken sleeping pills, in what appeared to be a suicide. Although no suicide note
Suicide note
A suicide note or death note is a message that states the author has died by suicide, and left to be discovered and read in anticipation of suicide....
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.
Thierry de la Villehuchet lived in New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state.The town was settled by refugee Huguenots in 1688 who were fleeing persecution in France...
, and came from a prominent French family. Before founding AIA Group, he was the chairman and CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of Crédit Lyonnais
Crédit Lyonnais
Crédit Lyonnais is a historic French bank. In the early 1990s it was the largest French bank, majority state-owned at that point. Crédit Lyonnais was the subject of poor management during that period which almost led to its bankruptcy in 1993...
Securities USA. He also contributed to the founding of Apollo Management
Apollo Management
Apollo Global Management, LLC is a private equity investment firm, founded in 1990 by former Drexel Burnham Lambert banker Leon Black. The firm specializes in leveraged buyout transactions and purchases of distressed securities involving corporate restructuring, special situations and industry...
, financial management firm established by financier Leon Black
Leon Black
Leon David Black is an American businessman and money manager, with a focus on leveraged buyouts and private equity. He is a son of Eli M. Black , a prominent businessman who controlled the United Brands Company and committed suicide when caught paying bribes to the President of Honduras...
. He was also a member of New York Yacht Club
New York Yacht Club
The New York Yacht Club is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. The organization has over 3,000 members as of 2011. ...
, the Larchmont Yacht Club
Larchmont Yacht Club
Larchmont Yacht Club is a private, members only yacht club located in the Village of Larchmont, in Westchester County, New York.-History:The club was founded in June of 1880 by Frank L. Anthony, Fred W. Flint, William C. France, Loring Lothrop and Charles E. Jenkins...
—a racer in the Star
Star (sailboat)
The International Star is a 6.9 m one-design racing keelboat for two people.The boat must weigh at least 671 kg with a maximum total sail area of 26.5 m . It is sloop-rigged, with a mainsail larger in proportional size than any other boat of its length...
and Shields sailboat
Shields sailboat
In 1963 Cornelius Shields, one of the foremost proponents of one-design sailing in the U.S. conceived of a modern followup to the International One Design. The new boat would have the balance and beauty of the IOD while incorporating modern trends such as fiberglass construction. Shields...
classes
Keelboat
Keelboat has two distinct meanings related to two different types of boats: one a riverine cargo-capable working boat, and the other a classification for small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yachts.-Historical keel-boats:...
—and the St. Malo
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo is a walled port city in Brittany in northwestern France on the English Channel. It is a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine.-Demographics:The population can increase to up to 200,000 in the summer tourist season...
Bay Nautical Club in France. He left behind a wife.
Access International had connections to wealthy and powerful aristocrats from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Its funds enlisted intermediaries with links to the cream of Europe's high society to garner clients. It had invested a reported US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1.4 billion with the disgraced investor and fund manager Bernard Madoff
Bernard Madoff
Bernard Lawrence "Bernie" Madoff is a former American businessman, stockbroker, investment advisor, and financier. He is the former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, and the admitted operator of a Ponzi scheme that is considered to be the largest financial fraud in U.S...
. De la Villehuchet had also invested his personal money with Madoff's business. The Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
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
Ponzi scheme
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation...
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
Philippe Junot
Philippe Junot is a venture capitalist and property developer with business interests in Paris, New York and Detroit. He is best known as the first husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco. His claim to the family of General Junot cannot be traced.Son of Michel Junot, Deputy Mayor of Paris, and...
, former husband of Princess Caroline
Caroline, Princess of Hanover
Caroline, Princess of Hanover, Hereditary Princess of Monaco , formally styled Her Royal Highness The Princess of Hanover , has been heiress presumptive to the throne of Monaco since 2005, a position which she previously held from 1957 to 1958.She is the wife of...
of Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
, and Prince Michael of Yugoslavia
Prince Michael of Yugoslavia (b. 1958)
Prince Michael Nicolas Paul George Maria of Yugoslavia, also known as Michel de Yougoslavie, is an investment executive, socialite and philanthropist. He was formerly a real estate broker...
as partner and investor-relations executive, respectively, in the firm; and Liliane Bettencourt
Liliane Bettencourt
Liliane Bettencourt is a French heiress, socialite, businesswoman and philanthropist. She is one of the principal shareholders of L'Oréal and, with a fortune estimated at US$23.5 billion, is one of the wealthiest people in the world.-Biography:...
, the world's wealthiest woman, the 86-year-old daughter of L’Oréal founder Eugène Schueller
Eugène Schueller
Eugène Schueller was the founder of L'Oréal, the world's leading company in cosmetics and beauty.- Career with L'Oréal :...
, as an early investor.
According to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, 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.” 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. In Feb. '09, Littaye denied having heard of whistleblower Harry Markopolos
Harry Markopolos
Harry M. Markopolos is a former securities industry executive and independent financial fraud investigator for institutional investors and others seeking forensic accounting expertise. He has received public acclaim for uncovering evidence over a period of nine years that Bernard Madoff's wealth...
' accusations against Mr. Madoff in the years before the scandal broke, and said Madoff was "of course" exempted from the usual handwriting analysis (graphology
Graphology
Graphology is the pseudoscientific study and analysis of handwriting, especially in relation to human psychology. In the medical field, it can be used to refer to the study of handwriting as an aid in diagnosis and tracking of diseases of the brain and nervous system...
) which was among the due diligence efforts AIA made with its outside fund managers.
Over the last 20 years, de la Villehuchet was renovating and organizing the archives of Le Château de Plouër in Plouër-sur-Rance
Plouër-sur-Rance
-External links:* *...
, Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, which he'd inherited from an uncle, and was nearly finished with the endeavor at the time of his death.