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Ex-Wall Street Trader Apparently Took Fatal Poison Pill During Arson Sentencing
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 29, 2012
Modified Jun 29, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 29, 2012
Modified Jun 29, 2012
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A former Wall Street trader was convicted of setting fire to his Phoenix home because he couldn't afford the mortgage—and he suddenly collapsed and died almost immediately after. In the video below, it appears that 52-year-old Michael Marin put something in his mouth just as the verdict was being read. Police believe he may have ingested a poison pill: “They are leaning towards that. Obviously if you watch the video it looks like he does put something in his mouth,” Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jeff Sprong told Fox 10 News.
"We cannot verify that at this point and we're not going to be able to until the toxicology report comes back," Sprong added, saying it would take two weeks for that report. "We're going to look at everything he had on him just because it looks like he's putting something in his mouth we don't know really what he did prior to that. He could do that to make us think he was taking something and he wasn't and he did something else."
Marin, an Ivy League-educated father of four, was facing 16 years in jail for the arson. After a lifetime spent collecting original Picasso sketches to put in his $3.5 million Biltmore Estates mansion, he had fallen into serious debt, and stopped making his monthly mortgage payments. Sprong said the apparent suicide was a shock to cops and officials: "This is something new that I've never seen and I'm sure the courts haven't seen it, I'm sure they'll do everything they can do to ensure it doesn't happen again."
Tagged
arson
michael marin
poison pill
trader
wall street
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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