Banking heir and cryptocurrency bigwig Matthew Mellon has died, a representative for his family said in a statement.
Mellon, an early backer of global settlement network Ripple, was the ex-husband of Jimmy Choo guru Tamara Mellon and of designer Nicole Hanley, his second wife.
A rep said in a statement: “Billionaire Matthew Mellon, 53, died suddenly in Cancun, Mexico, where he was attending a drug rehabilitation facility. Mellon made his fortune in cryptocurrency, turning a $2 million investment into $1 billion. He is survived by his three children, Force, Olympia and Minty. The family asks that their privacy be respected at this very painful time.”
On Tuesday, the same rep amended their statement to say: “Billionaire Matthew Mellon, 53, died suddenly in Cancun, Mexico, where he was planning to check into a rehabilitation facility for follow-up treatment.”
Mellon, a former chair of the New York Republican Party’s finance committee, had battled addiction.
In 2016, he told The Post, “OxyContin is like legal heroin. And it needs to be addressed,” while at a Malibu treatment center kicking a habit of $100,000 a month.
But he was in Forbes this year for his latest investments.
Tamara, who with Mellon had daughter Araminta, aka Minty, said in 2013, “He keeps fighting and coming back.”
Mellon and Nicole, parents of Force and Olympia, announced their split in 2015 after an attempted reconciliation.