New York ? He was a distinguished investor who traced his lineage to the French aristocracy, hobnobbed with members of European high society and sailed around the world on yachts.

But after losing more than $1 billion of his clients’ money to Bernard Madoff, Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, 65, had enough. He locked the door of his Madison Avenue office and apparently swallowed sleeping pills and slashed his wrists with a box cutter, police said.

A security guard found his body Tuesday morning, next to a garbage can placed to catch the blood.

The bloody scene marked a grisly turn in the Madoff scandal in which money managers and investors were ensnared in an alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme. De la Villehuchet is believed to have lost about $1.4 billion to Madoff.

No suicide note was found, said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.