Death-faking hedge fund manager gets caught
On June 9, Samuel Israel was supposed to report to a federal prison to begin a 20 year sentence on charges of conspiracy and fraud.
On that same day, authorities found Mr. Israel’s car abandoned on a bridge high above the Hudson River. The front of the car bore an interesting message, and I quote, ”Suicide is painless.”
His remains were never recovered, because he never jumped. Instead he hopped into an RV and disappeared, until today, when the law caught up with him.
This is a huge reversal of fortunes for Mr. Israel, who once rented a $32,000-a-month mansion from Donald Trump.
Mr. Israel started Bayou Management in the mid 1990s. The hedge fund struggled from its inception, but Israel was able to mislead investors by orchestrating phony audits and changing the fund’s inception date to cover up losses.
Mr. Israel was also able to generate massive fee income by inflating the fund’s returns and processing its trades through an affiliate which he owned.
Prosecutors estimate that over a six year period, Mr. Israel’s trading caused Bayou to lose at least $400 million. During the same period, Mr. Israel and his co-defendants, James Marquez and Dan Marino (not of the Miami Dolphins), bragged about the fund’s performance and actively sought new investors.
All three are now in custody as authorities try to track down the remainder of Bayou’s assets.
Tags: bayou, hedge fund, samuel israel, suicideRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Investment, Market, News, Uncategorized
6 opinions for Death-faking hedge fund manager gets caught
Cynthia Lee
Jul 7, 2008 at 3:00 pm
I can see this being portrayed on an episode of L&O soon. I can’t wait… Anyways, I read in an article that “A grand jury is expected to hand up an indictment in the next 30 days, and Mr. Israel did not enter a plea. I can’t wait to hear how many more years he will get, and if he will be able to get parole.
Tate Kirk
Jul 9, 2008 at 7:41 pm
That is screwed up. How did someone dumb enough to think they could get away with faking suicide like that get in charge of a hedge fund. And I love the little quote “suicide is painless.” Like it’s not suspicious at all that he didn’t leave a more well thought-out note if he had actually killed himself. I guess he thought it was at least more believable than writing “goodbye, cruel world,” or better yet, “my car is parked here because I just killed myself by jumping off the bridge.”
Levi McDonough
Jul 9, 2008 at 8:36 pm
I always find it hard to believe how unethical and greedy these rogue “uber-wealthy” money managers can be. Also it always seems that the white collar criminals seem to run from the law, or even commit suicide to avoid their time in prison.
Justin Bonifacino
Jul 10, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I believe that these hedge funds should take on a honest sincere person like myself that would be happy with ohhhhh 250-500k a year… nothing more… i would work hard and do good things for the company… not be greedy pull corrupt moves… risk a 4th of the life i have to live in prison… i feel like these people that have it made in life that can afford to rend out 32k/month homes dont have any moral sense at all… with anything dealing with money i think the question “should i really be doing this or what kind of effect will this have if i do this” needs to be asked a little bit more.
Darren Scott
Jul 11, 2008 at 10:27 pm
A real good example of how someone was almost able to consistently “beat the market”. He made it all up, and still couldn’t do it or get away with it. The previous post was right, it seems that money and greed are directly proportion. No thanks to professional management for me.
Sean Sweeney
Jul 13, 2008 at 4:47 pm
That is the funniest story i have heard in a long time. I hope for his sake that prison will be as painless as fake suicide. I have no sympathy for this guy, he is a scam artist. The only unfortunate thing is that he will probably be headed to a club-med white collar prison, and not real jail. Im sure where ever he is headed there will be a little more rent control then his former residence. 32K a month is robbery, maybe Mr. Trump can be his cell mate. Haha
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