French manager, possible Madoff victim, dead in NY

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A French executive whose fund reportedly lost large sums it invested with Wall Street adviser Bernard Madoff was found dead in New York City, police said on Tuesday.

It appeared "highly likely" that he committed suicide, said a source familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity. A French newspaper also said he killed himself.

Madoff is the Wall Street fund manager who authorities say confessed to running a $50 billion fraud that may have ensnared investors and charities around the world.

Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, 65, was co-founder of money manager Access International. He was pronounced dead at 8 a.m. at a Madison Avenue building in midtown Manhattan but a cause of death was not yet known, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the New York City Medical Examiner.

New York City police said they were called to the building at 7.30 a.m.

Villehuchet had been trying to recover some of the funds lost to Madoff, Paris newspaper La Tribune reported on its website, citing a person close to Villehuchet. That source also told the newspaper Villehuchet killed himself.

Access did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Daniel Trotta in New York and Estelle Shirbon in Paris, Editing by Leslie Gevirtz, Toni Reinhold)