Hedge Fund Fraud Missing; Suicide Possible

Samuel Israel denied leniency in $400M investor 'ponzi scheme'

(NEWSER) - The founder of defunct hedge fund Bayou Group was given a 20-year prison term today for bilking investors out of more than $400 million, Bloomberg reports. Samuel Israel must also pay $300 million in restitution for masterminding a “ponzi scheme” in which investment returns were paid with new investors’ money. His sentence is the longest for a white-collar crime since Enron litigation. More»

Painless or not, hedge-fund scammer couldn't off himself

(AP) - A hedge-fund cheat who faked his death to try to dodge a 20-year prison sentence has told a judge that he did actually try to commit suicide this week. Samuel Israel appeared in Manhattan federal court today for a new charge that could get him an extra 10 years. More»

'He's dead as far as I can throw him,' skeptic says of fraudster

(NEWSER) - An international manhunt is now under way for a former hedge-fund manager who disappeared the day he was to begin serving a prison sentence for defrauding investors. A car belonging to Samuel Israel III was found Monday at a bridge over New York's Hudson River, the Wall Street Journal reports; though bodies of suicide jumpers are normally found quickly, there's no sign of Israel. More»

After faking his own death, Samuel Israel turns himself in

(AP) - It's official: Samuel Israel definitely isn't dead. The fugitive hedge-fund swindler turned himself in today, federal authorities say. Israel disappeared last month on the day he was supposed to report to federal prison. His car was found parked near a bridge over the Hudson River, with the words "suicide is painless" scrawled in the dust on the hood, leading to brief speculation that Israel had killed himself. More»

(NEWSER) - If past fraud cases are a guide, investors rooked by Bernard Madoff will have to wait quite a while to see even a fraction of their initial investments returned, Reuters reports. Court action is notoriously slow, but that’s only half the problem: Recovering money is possible only if it’s there to find. “I think we are talking less than half,” one lawyer said of the anticipated payout. More»