Corporate Suicide: Scandalized Executives Who (Allegedly) Took Their Own Lives

Some corporate scandals are so damaging that not everyone involved can survive -- literally.

In the wake of the "unexplained" death of former News of the World reporter Sean Hoare -- who admitted to his participation in the phone-hacking controversy -- we took a closer look at some top executives who, for one reason or another, felt compelled to take their own lives after a scandal or monumental failure.

Then again, even some of the confirmed suicides have come under suspicion that not all is as it seems.

*Sean Hoare’s death is being labeled by some media outlets as an “apparent suicide”, but the cause of death is still very much up in the air.

Hoare was a key player in the tabloid hacking scandal that is rocking Rupert Murdoch’s publishing empire. The former entertainment reporter at News of the World was one of the first whistleblowers in the unfolding controversy – telling the New York Times in 2010 that Andy Coulson, editor of the newspaper during a period heavy with hacking allegations, not only know about the hacking, but “actively encouraged [Hoare] to do it.”

Hoare admitted to hacking into the voicemail of celebrities like David and Victoria Beckham.
He was fired from News of the World in 2005 – by Coulson – because of his drinking and drug problem.

Hoare was found dead at his Watford, England home late Monday morning. The cause of death has not yet been determined, but speculation exists that it could have been connected to his substance abuse. Friends who had seen him recently reported that he appeared to be in ill health. Neighbors said he had become paranoid about “someone from the Government coming to get him.”

As of July 19, police are treating Hoare’s untimely death as “unexplained but not thought to be suspicious.” An autopsy will be conducted this week.

On January 25, 2002, the retired Enron senior officer was found dead “from a penetrating gunshot wound to the head” in his Mercedes -Benz in his hometown of Sugar Land, a Houston, Texas suburb.

Baxter sold $30 million worth of Enron stock before the energy company went bankrupt in 2001, and was named in a shareholder lawsuit that alleged insider trading.

But Baxter was considered by some to be a whistleblower – he reportedly conflicted with Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling over questionable accounting practices. Enron was discovered to have systematically misreported assets and profits, largely by willfully failing to include liabilities in its financial statements.

In a handwritten suicide note addressed to his wife, Carol, Baxter apologetically insisted that he could not go on, saying “I have always tried to do the right thing but where there was once great pride now it’s gone….I just can’t be any good to you or myself.”

There are still some who believe the suicide was suspicious, citing a recent purchase of a yacht and a belief that Enron-based life insurance had a clause that it would not provide a payout in the event of a suicide - a clause that would have expired the very next day.

Freddie Mac and Fannie May backed more than half of the home mortgages in the United States during a period of unprecedented defaults. They received over $60 billion in federal aid between Fall 2008 –when David B. Kellerman was appointed acting CFO - and April 2009, when he took his own life.

In the midst of the housing crisis, lawmakers learned that top executives at Freddie Mac would receive bonuses totaling $210 million – Kellerman’s portion was $850,000. Fearing for the safety of his family, Kellerman requested security detail at his Virginia home.

Weeks later, Kellermann hung himself in the basement of that home. The day before, he had attempted to resign but the human resources chief at Freddie Mac refused his resignation – suggesting he take a few days off.

Those close to Kellerman acknowledged that he had been overwhelmed by stress in the months leading up to his suicide. “Someone was always angry with him,” one friend told the New York Times.

The eldest son of famed Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff was found hanging in his $6 million dollar Soho loft on the second anniversary of the day his father was arrested for defrauding investors.

Both Mark and his brother Andrew had maintained that they were unaware of the crimes committed at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. Both brothers were named in several civil lawsuits, but at the time of Mark’s death, he was not facing any imminent criminal charges.

'The Independent' described Mark Madoff as “driven to despair by the stain of his father’s financial swindles and by the battering of lawsuits against him.” Mark’s wife Stephanie, who was in Disneyworld with their four-year old daughter at the time, became alarmed by the nature of emails he had been sending her. Stephanie dispatched her father-in-law to their apartment after Mark advised her to have someone check on their two-year old son, who had remained in New York with his father.

Mark Madoff’s body was found hanging by a dog’s leash, with his son sleeping nearby.

Born Elihu Manashe Blachowitz in Poland in 1921, Eli M. Black was in control the United Brands Company when it bribed the President of Honduras with $2.5 million dollars in exchange for cutting taxes on banana imports. United Brands at the time owned the Chiquita banana brand, and imported a third of all bananas sold in the U.S. United Brands had suffered significant losses under Black’s leadership, magnified by Hurricane Fifi in 1974, which destroyed a significant amount of banana plantations in Honduras. Shortly before the bribery scandal broke, Black committed suicide in spectacular fashion: On February 13, 1975, he smashed his office window on the 44th floor of the Pan Am Building with his briefcase, and jumped to his death, landing in the middle of traffic on Park Avenue. Black began his career as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers and eventually moved over to American Seal-Kap company – which manufactured milk bottle caps – renaming it AMK. In 1970, AMK merged with United Fruit Company and become United Brands. Eli M. Black’s son, Leon Black, is a founding partner in the private equity firm Apollo Management.

Chung Mong-hun was the son of Chung Ju-yung – the founder of the South Korean Hyundai conglomerate – and heir to a vast fortune.

Chung Mong-hun’s tenure at Hyundai – which began in 1975 – was marked by tension with his older brother, Chung Mong-koo, who felt he should be chairman of Hyundai Group, which struggled throughout the 1990s. In 2000, under media pressure to resign himself, Chung Ju-yung insisted he would only leave if both his sons left managerial positions himself. Mong-koo refused, but Mong-hun agreed to resign from all but one of his positions, chair of Hyundai Asian.

In 2003, after evidence surfaced that Chung Mon-hun secretly gave $100 million in South Korean government money to North Korea in order to secure a summit between the South and North Korean presidents, Mon-hun leapt to his death from the 12th floor Hyundai Asian’s headquarters. Hyundai was further implicating in arranging for a total of $400 million in payments to N. Korea to in order to secure business contracts.

At the time of his death in 1998, Argentine businessman Alfredo Yabran was trying to escape arrest on charges he was responsible for the murder of a photojournalist. He went on the run after his arrest was ordered, and shot himself in the face when police eventually apprehended him at a ranch he owned in Entre Rios Province.

Yabran was suspected in the murder of photographer Jose Luis Cabezas, who was the first news photographer to invade Yabran’s private life. Yabran had previously been accused of controversial business practices and shady politics.

Even today, Yabran’s apparent suicide remains controversial, with some Argentinians unconvinced that he actually died that day. Many believe he may have faked his own death to escape prosecution.