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The London Free Press – A hedge-fund swindler who faked his own death in an effort to skip out on a 20-year prison term was sentenced yesterday to two extra years.
Federal Judge Kenneth Karas said Samuel Israel III was "thumbing his nose at the system" when he staged a suicide and jumped bail last year rather than do time for taking hundreds of millions from investors in his Stamford, Conn.-based Bayou hedge funds.
Chicago Tribune – The judge who is sentencing hedge-fund swindler Samuel Israel III for skipping out on prison may want to make an example of him.
Israel admitted in March that he faked his suicide and jumped bail last year rather than begin a 20-year sentence for bilking investors in his Stamford, Conn.-based Bayou funds.
He finally surrendered to police in Southwick, Mass.
Stamford Advocate – Debra Ryan, the girlfriend of Samuel Israel, convicted for his role in a $400 million fraud involving the collapse of Stamford-based hedge-fund firm Bayou Group LLC, was sentenced to three years probation for aiding his escape.
Ryan, a decorator who once rented a house on Highland Avenue in Greenwich, also was ordered to be confined at home for four months and not to have any contact with Israel.
Israel, 49, pleaded guilty in March to faking his suicide by abandoning his car on the Bear Mountain bridge with the words "suicide is painless" written on the windshield and fleeing the day he was to begin a 20-year sentence. He pleaded guilty to fraud in 2005 after admitting he hid $400 million in losses at Bayou.
Reuters – Jailed Bayou hedge fund swindler Samuel Israel pleaded guilty on Monday to jumping bail in an episode in which he faked his own suicide last year in an attempt to avoid going to prison.
Israel’s plea had been delayed several times since August while he underwent medical care. He faces up to 10 years in prison on the bail jumping charge, said Judge Kenneth Karas in U.S. District Court in White Plains, New York.
Israel, 49, was sentenced last April to 20 years for engineering a scam that cheated investors out of about $450 million. The two sentences will run consecutively. Karas scheduled June 24 for the sentencing.
CNN.com – The girlfriend of a convicted hedge fund manager who disappeared last year, leading to speculation that he had committed suicide rather than report to prison, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to helping him, according to federal prosecutors.
Debra Ryan pleaded guilty to "aiding and abetting Samuel Israel III’s failure to surrender to serve his sentence on June 8, 2008," according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
With the guilty plea, she avoids a trial but still faces up to 10 years in prison. But the judge indicated Tuesday that she will most likely face about four to 10 months in prison, federal prosecutors said.
New York Daily News – A federal judge charged with slapping his wife hired a big shot defense attorney as he faces a misdemeanor charge that could land him in the clink.
James Peck, 63, the bankruptcy judge overseeing the breakup of Lehman Brothers, hired Barry Bohrer, a prominent criminal defense lawyer whose clients have included Sam Israel, the hedge fund swindler who went on the lam last summer after faking his own suicide to avoid a 20-year jail term.
Peck, who was briefly assigned to handle the Bernard Madoff bankruptcy until he recused himself in December, told cops when they came to his Park Ave. apartment Saturday afternoon that "I was defending myself."
Bloomberg - Debra Ryan, the girlfriend of Samuel Israel, the convicted founder of hedge-fund firm Bayou Group LLC charged with bail jumping, pleaded not guilty to helping him escape.
Israel, 49, is accused of faking his suicide and fleeing the day he was to begin a 20-year sentence for his federal conviction in a $400 million fraud. Ryan, 45, entered her plea today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Margaret Smith at federal court in White Plains, New York, according to Herb Hadad, a spokesman for interim U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin in New York.
