The hedge-fund manager who leaped to his death from a Manhattan hotel on Monday may have been planning his suicide for weeks, it was revealed.

Charles W. Murphy, 56, leaped from the 24th floor of the building at around 4:42pm on Monday, falling 20 floors before fatally hitting a fourth-floor terrace.

Murphy's hedge fund was a victim of the 2008 ponzi scheme involving Bernie Madoff, in which Madoff scammed investors out of billions of dollars.

It has now emerged that Murphy, who was on depression medication prior to his fatal fall, appears to have been planning his grisly suicide for weeks. He added his wife to the deed of their Upper East Side mansion just three weeks before his death.

These preparations allow his wife, Annabella, to secure sole ownership of their 11,500-square-foot townhouse on East 67th Street.

Charles Murphy, above with his second wife Annabella, committed suicide by jumping off the 24th floor of the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan on Monday afternoon

Murphy's limestone townhouse on 67th street is still on the market for $36million, a year after it was listed for $49.5. He tried to offload it after Madoff's ponzi scam was uncovered

'It would appear that by putting her on the deed, he gave her an equal undivided interest in the property so that she would have owned a 100 per cent at the time of his death,' Julie Haas, a estate planning attorney told the New York Post.

Murphy purchased the mansion in 2007 for $33million, and had he not put the deed in his wife's name, ownership rights would have been determined by his will or state laws.

The couple previously tried to sell the home for $37million after it emerged that Bernie Madoff had ripped off his hedge fund, Fairfield Greenwich, for billions.

They tried again to sell it in May of 2016 for $49.5million.

The 1899 limestone house, where the couple held parties for Manhattan's social elite, failed to sell, so they dropped the price to $36 million. They paid $33 million for it in 2007.

It is described as being 11,550 square feet with a roof terrace with views of Central Park, a private staff quarters, a gym, a wine cellar, and elevator and a Crestron Total Home Technology system.

It had previously emerged, according to the the New York Daily News, that Murphy and his wife were so struggling for money that they couldn't afford to get her car fixed after she crashed it.

The father-of-two financier plummeted 20 floors before hitting a fourth floor terrace. He had been suffering depression at the time, sources said, and did not have enough money to fix his wife's car

Murphy is seen here being taken from the scene of his death. The former hedge fund he ran, Fairfield Greenwich, poured $7.5bn into Madoff's ponzi scheme

A parking attendant at a nearby garage told the New York Post that Annabella Murphy had crashed their Honda Odyssey last summer but could not afford to fix it.

'She didn't even have enough money to pay for the damage,' the attendant said.

A number of mourners were dropped off at the family home on Tuesday morning but none wished to comment.

A parking attendant told DailyMail.com that the family were very nice people and had given the staff a Christmas card with a photograph of their children on the front.

He said the couple kept one ‘family car’ in the structure.

MADOFF AND THE SUICIDES LINKED TO HIS PONZI SCANDAL Charles Murphy, 56, has now become the fourth person connected to Madoff to commit suicide in the years following the Ponzi scheme scandal. French aristocrat Rene Thierry Magon De La Villehuchet was found dead in 2008 just after the news broke. His AIA Group lost $1.5 billion. Ex-U.S. Army major William Foxton, 65, killed himself in 2009. A year later, Madoff's son Mark was found dead after he hanged himself in his New York apartment. Murphy is now the fourth person who was affected by the Madoff scandal to commit suicide. French aristocrat Rene Thierry Magon De La Villehuchet (left) was found dead in 2008 just after the news broke. Ex-U.S. Army major William Foxton, 65, (middle) killed himself in 2009. Madoff's son Mark (right) hanged himself in his New York apartment in 2010 Advertisement

Murphy landed on a terrace four stories above the street; medics had difficulty reaching him

The pair, pictured on a dinner date, got engaged in 2003. A report says that Mrs Murphy crashed her car last summer, but could not afford to get it repaired

The attendant, who did not wish to be named, said: 'I hadn't seen her for ten days, I thought she was on vacation.'

'I feel very sad about it and very sorry for their kids.'

When he died, Murphy was working with Paulson & Co., another New York hedge fund.

'We are extremely saddened by this news,' said Founder Paul Johnson in a statement on Monday. 'Charles was an extremely gifted and brilliant man, a great partner and a true friend.'

For confidential support call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255